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Saddam: 'I Lied About WMD In Fear Of Iran'

bhkad said:
If Iraq had WMD's (as was believed...read first post of this thread) Israel had every reason to worry about their continued existence as a nation.

If Israel launched a defensive first strike without proof or provocation a large regional war could have started.

We prevented that greater war.
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I am so proud we prevented an if based on actions that may have occured because of a previous if, as was believed...
 
bhkad said:
A majority of them were Saudi but not all of them, fwiw.
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You know, actually, we support terrorist groups by buying Saudi oil, which in turn is used to fund the terrorists that attack us.
 
tryreading said:
Damn good point. And, lest we forget, we were attacked on our soil by 19 Saudi Arabians on 9/11/2001.
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Saudi's were chosen for the "Planes Operation" in order to drive a wedge between the U.S. and the Saudi's, after all that was one of OBL's main objectives, divide and conquer.
 
tlmorg02 said:
You know, actually, we support terrorist groups by buying Saudi oil, which in turn is used to fund the terrorists that attack us.
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You are correct.

In 1979 the Saudi gov't was allowed, by the religious leadership, to use gunfire in the Grand Mosque to quell a hostage situation. But this permission was granted in exchange for funding terrorism.
 
Laila said:
What about Israel?
Like i'd go to war for the benefit of another country. Are you nuts?
Armies are there to protect THEIR country, not someone elses.

We now sacrifice our soldiers for Israel's security? Thats nice, how many soldiers have they offered for Iraq and Aghanistan for the past 5 years again??
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*Cough World War II Europe Cough"

Oh sorry... I forget.. what were those countries we helped defend so long ago... been so long I really can't remember I know one started with a F and ended with an e... I guess maybe we didn't defend some country hmm my mistake my history must be bad, maybe we just went after Japan since they were the clear danger. :roll::2wave:
 
Rightwing86 said:
*Cough World War II Europe Cough"

Oh sorry... I forget.. what were those countries we helped defend so long ago... been so long I really can't remember I know one started with a F and ended with an e... I guess maybe we didn't defend some country hmm my mistake my history must be bad, maybe we just went after Japan since they were the clear danger. :roll::2wave:
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We did not go into WWII until 1941, and no presence in Europe or the Pacific until 1942. To suggest we went right in to protect others is quite misleading. We were basically dragged into the war, and the U.S. declared war on the axis of evil, once it was discovered that Hitler had urged Mexico to join him and attack the U.S., just as Japan had.
 
I'm sorry, but didn't the UNMOVIC report say that Iraq because extradonarily cooperative around 2002?
 
Laila said:
:rofl

We can't judge what happened in Iraq right now, only history can when we see and judge if our actions really did make a difference for the better and towards democracy which i don't think will last.
I think we just gave Iran an ally in ME whereas previously Iraq was Iran's main fear.
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It's funny how you say "we can't judge" the situation in Iraq, yet you're absolutely convinced the democracy will fail.

Personally, I think you *want* it to.
 
tlmorg02 said:
The fact of the matter is that there were actual reports from military personel, that inspected in 1998, and found that Iraq's chemical and biological weapons were out of date and useless. We knew they could not make more, because of the embargo on Iraq, no vaccines or medicines could enter the country so that they would not have access to compounds that would enable them to make new weapons.
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To Bad those folks didn't have any Real UN Inspetcors with them and they only looked at stuff that had been capture by us during the Gulf War. They never entered Iraq with us on any Inspection Team Search nor were they allowed to under the terms that the UN setup in the cease fire terms.

In my whole time working on various UN Weapon Team's we never had any active duty Military Personal on any teams.
 
tryreading said:
If I remember right, Iraq fired more scuds at Saudi Arabia than at Israel.
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Before you go making an arse of yourself I suggest you do some research for the record,

Iraq fired 88 Scud-B during the whole Gulf War of these this is the break down,

42 Scud-B mostly Al-Hussein at Israel
19 Scud-B Al-Hussein at Dhahran, Al Jubayl, Bahrain, and Qatar.
Of these 19 attacks 6 of them were against Bahrain and Qatar

Now that leaves a total of 40 Scud fired at Saudi Arab during the Gulf War.
 
Richard Nixon said:
I'm sorry, but didn't the UNMOVIC report say that Iraq because extradonarily cooperative around 2002?
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No they didn't as a matter of fact for us on the ground 2002 was one of the worst years we had with reguard to working with Iraqi Officials.

You can thank Mr. Hans Blix for that one.
 
GarzaUK said:
Saddam: 'I Lied About WMD In Fear Of Iran' - Yahoo! News UK

Just shows that this war could have been avoided, if only the UN was given a few more months by the US, Saddam would have been found weak
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So it's the US's fault that Saddam wanted everyone to believe he had the weapons? And that a few more months of investigating would have resolved the issue, when Saddam was actively trying to make it look like he was hiding something?

and we could have used his fear of the Iranians to press him into more democratic policies in exchange for "a security agreement"
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That's one of the most historically inept things I've ever heard. Brutal, thuggish dictators have no interest in "democracy." Never have, never will. Democracy is achieved only when they're gone.

meanwhile focusing on the real problem - Iran.
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Yeah. And if the focus ever does shift to Iran, who's going to be the "real" problem then? There's always someone else. :roll:
 
tryreading said:
Such a threat to the US.

But up until shortly before the 1991 war, Iraq and the US were good buddies. We backed him during the Iran/Iraq war, removed Iraq from our list of terrorist nations so Saddam could do business freely, treated Saddam's Iraq like a regular ally. And this was done at the time when saddam actually was committing atrocities using chemical weapons, with our knowledge. President Reagan didn't seem to have much of a problem with Hussein, wasn't scared of him at all.
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Granted everything you say is true but prio to 1991 he hadn't invade any other Middle East Country and both Mr. Reagan and Mr. Bush Sr. told him not to go into Kuwait, but he didn't listen and end up bring it all down on him.

Also I woul dlike to point out to all of you while we supported him during the Iran-Iraq War as did most of the rest of the World we weren't Iraq's Arms Supplers 95% of their Military Hardware was/is Soviet based items.
 
tlmorg02 said:
We did not go into WWII until 1941, and no presence in Europe or the Pacific until 1942. To suggest we went right in to protect others is quite misleading. We were basically dragged into the war, and the U.S. declared war on the axis of evil, once it was discovered that Hitler had urged Mexico to join him and attack the U.S., just as Japan had.
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No were I suggest you do some reading on the subject but here are a few thing for you to look up,

Flying Tigers(AVG)
Lend-Lease
Eagle Squadron(RAF)
4 Stackers (US Destroyers with American Crews)

All of these were well before 1941,

As for our presence in Europe well lets ee we were attacked by Japan on Dec. 7 Germany declaired War on the 9th are first Transport with American Aircraft landed at the docks of Liverpool on 13 are first operational Squadron came on line on 21.

As for the Pacific correct me if I'm wrong but Guam,Wake Island are all in the Pacific correct so is the Philippines, all of them had United States Army units on them.
 
tryreading said:
One of them, Atta, was Egyptian. All the others Saudi. Why did we never bomb Saudi Arabia?
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Because Iraq was in violation of the UN. We were already at war with Iraq. It was beleived Saddam had WMD. Saddam was actively thwarting the mandated inspection teams.

It was believed that toppling Saddam would lead to democracy in Iraq and a moderation / democrazation of countires in the area.

There have already been some minor evidence that this has been occuring. What is currently occuring in Iran, is at least partially, the result of Iraq.

Of course, it's much simpler to just say "oil". That doesn't require any thought at all.
 
buck said:
Of course, it's much simpler to just say "oil". That doesn't require any thought at all.
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That is correct.

If we went into Iraq for the oil, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever not to go into Saudi Arabia for theirs. There's nothing they have which can keep us out, except for the threat of denying us oil . . . and if we're going in to GET the oil, that's no threat at all. And the justifications for invading were/are ample.

However, understanding that DOES require thought.
 
tlmorg02 said:
and the U.S. declared war on the axis of evil, once it was discovered that Hitler had urged Mexico to join him and attack the U.S., just as Japan had.
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That was WWI.
 
Scorpion89 said:
No they didn't as a matter of fact for us on the ground 2002 was one of the worst years we had with reguard to working with Iraqi Officials.

You can thank Mr. Hans Blix for that one.
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http://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/new/documents/compendium_summary/s-2006-420-English.pdf

'In carrying out its mandate, the United Nations Special Commission
(UNSCOM) was provided with unprecedented rights of access to Iraq’s relevant
facilities, personnel, documents and other materials. Despite varying degrees of
cooperation from the Iraqi authorities at the time, the United Nations inspectors
successfully oversaw the destruction, removal or rendering harmless of Iraq’s
declared WMD programmes in the chemical, biological and missile areas. The
Commission also implemented a monitoring system which essentially ensured that
proscribed programmes were not revived while international inspectors were
present'

Another report said that with the threat of invasion Iraq because 'extremely cooperative'. Give me a moment to find that.
 
tlmorg02 said:
We were basically dragged into the war, and the U.S. declared war on the axis of evil, once it was discovered that Hitler had urged Mexico to join him and attack the U.S., just as Japan had.
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Wow just wow look do some research before you make statement like this, for the record, it's called the Zimmermann Telegram,

On the first of February, we intend to begin unrestricted submarine warfare. In spite of this, it is our intention to endeavor to keep the United States of America neutral. In the event of this not succeeding, we propose an alliance on the following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and make peace together. We shall give generous financial support, and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. The details of settlement are left to you. You are instructed to inform the President [of Mexico] of the above in the greatest confidence as soon as it is certain that there will be an outbreak of war with the United States and suggest that the President, on his own initiative, invite Japan to immediate adherence with this plan; at the same time, offer to mediate between Japan and ourselves. Please call to the attention of the President that the ruthless employment of our submarines now offers the prospect of compelling England to make peace in a few months.

The Zimmermann Telegram was a coded telegram said to have been dispatched by the Foreign Secretary of the German Empire, Arthur Zimmermann, on January 16, 1917, to the German ambassador in Washington, Johann von Bernstorff, at the height of World War I. On January 19, Bernstorff, per Zimmermann's request, forwarded the Telegram to the German ambassador in Mexico, Heinrich von Eckardt. Zimmermann sent the Telegram in anticipation of the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare by the German Empire on February 1, an act which German High Command feared would draw the neutral United States into war on the side of the Allies. The Telegram instructed Ambassador Eckardt that if the United States appeared likely to enter the war he was to approach the Mexican government with a proposal for military alliance. He was to offer Mexico material aid in the reclamation of territory lost during the Mexican-American War, specifically the American states of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Eckardt was also instructed to urge Mexico to help broker an alliance between Germany and Japan.

[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmermann_Telegram]Zimmermann Telegram - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
 
Richard Nixon said:
http://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/new/documents/compendium_summary/s-2006-420-English.pdf

'In carrying out its mandate, the United Nations Special Commission
(UNSCOM) was provided with unprecedented rights of access to Iraq’s relevant
facilities, personnel, documents and other materials. Despite varying degrees of
cooperation from the Iraqi authorities at the time, the United Nations inspectors
successfully oversaw the destruction, removal or rendering harmless of Iraq’s
declared WMD programmes in the chemical, biological and missile areas. The
Commission also implemented a monitoring system which essentially ensured that
proscribed programmes were not revived while international inspectors were
present'

Another report said that with the threat of invasion Iraq because 'extremely cooperative'. Give me a moment to find that.
Click to expand...

This report is from 2006, not 2002, and makes no reference to a time frame in the paragraphs containing the passage you quote.
 
Scorpion89 said:
Wow just wow look do some research before you make statement like this, for the record, it's called the Zimmermann Telegram,

On the first of February, we intend to begin unrestricted submarine warfare. In spite of this, it is our intention to endeavor to keep the United States of America neutral. In the event of this not succeeding, we propose an alliance on the following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and make peace together. We shall give generous financial support, and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. The details of settlement are left to you. You are instructed to inform the President [of Mexico] of the above in the greatest confidence as soon as it is certain that there will be an outbreak of war with the United States and suggest that the President, on his own initiative, invite Japan to immediate adherence with this plan; at the same time, offer to mediate between Japan and ourselves. Please call to the attention of the President that the ruthless employment of our submarines now offers the prospect of compelling England to make peace in a few months.

The Zimmermann Telegram was a coded telegram said to have been dispatched by the Foreign Secretary of the German Empire, Arthur Zimmermann, on January 16, 1917, to the German ambassador in Washington, Johann von Bernstorff, at the height of World War I. On January 19, Bernstorff, per Zimmermann's request, forwarded the Telegram to the German ambassador in Mexico, Heinrich von Eckardt. Zimmermann sent the Telegram in anticipation of the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare by the German Empire on February 1, an act which German High Command feared would draw the neutral United States into war on the side of the Allies. The Telegram instructed Ambassador Eckardt that if the United States appeared likely to enter the war he was to approach the Mexican government with a proposal for military alliance. He was to offer Mexico material aid in the reclamation of territory lost during the Mexican-American War, specifically the American states of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Eckardt was also instructed to urge Mexico to help broker an alliance between Germany and Japan.

Zimmermann Telegram - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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While his war was wrong, his overall statement aint. The US politicians tried very hard to stay out of WW2 with the exception of Roosevelt. The US congress was in many ways pro Nazi Germany and had implemented many of the eugenics laws long before Hilter even dreamed of it. So his statement that the US was dragged into WW2 is very much correct.
 
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