Disturbing facts around the US/UK war in Iraq, as I see them.
Judge by yourself and please give me unemotional arguments and parameters to change my view, I would be very happy it I could find comfort in the actions now suggested by US/UK. I cannot mobilize such confidence in Bush/Blair, that would help me to support a Gulf War II and the situation disturbs me very much. Please try to be factual, because I will not be convinced by name calling or non factual arguments and it will not help me. If I could belive in something that will happen with or without my opinion, I would sleep and feel better, if I could belive in it and that it is a cause worth all the lifes that will be taken, innocent and not innocent. One very positive thing that is likely to happen, regardless of war or not war, is a mobilization of resources to produce biofuels. It would give a tremendous boost for energy saving and alternative energy sources. Unfortunately or maybe by design, it would also boost utilization of nuclear and coal. Iraq is govern by the elected Baath party and it's elected leader Saddam Hussein. It is common opinion in the Western world that those elections was non democratic and that it is in reality a dictatorship. It is also a common opinion that the regime does not respect human rights and are using violence to suppress the people. The descriptions of the ruthless regime are probably very close to reality. Rule by terror might be correct as description of Iraq and many other nations in the world, including the current Israeli rule over the Palestinian territories. Some people point at the lack of consistence in the US policies. It is samples of that the regime protected themselves by political executions and disappearances. The question of the many disappearances of Kuwaiti citizens is also a very important issue. The same with Iranian prisoners of war. It can be a very strong case for war crimes against the Iraqi regime and its brutalities. Iraq, because of the war with Iran and the gulf war, is a very crippled nation. Close to 90% of the population consist of children under 16, women and elderly. Less than 20% of the population have the rights to vote. Iraq have suffered for more than a decade from one of the few effective blockades in the world history. It is reports from credible international help organizations, that the blockade have caused substantial death and reduction of quality of life in Iraq. Iraq does not have a history of International terrorism, compared with other Middle East countries. Iraq has not been proven to support or have links to International terrorism. It is proven that Iraq have supported the Palestine people in their uprising against the occupying Israel. Especially their financial support of families of suicide bombers. The majority of Iraq's WMD capabilities was delivered by US during the Iraq - Iran conflict. Very little was a result of stand alone development in Iraq. The Iraq - Iran war was very much induced, encouraged and directly supported by US. Us also assisted in this war by providing military hardware, material, chemical and biological weapons to Iraq. The war with Iran is the only undisputable militarily conflict that Iraq had with an other country. All countries and International institutions agree that UN managed to destroy 95% of all WMDs and WMD programs prior to 1998. At that junction only 5% remained. The present discussion of WMD in Iraq concerns the remaining 5% and what they might have produced since 1998. Kuwait was never recognized by Iraq as a sovereign state and neighbor, they regarded them as a renegade province. Even if the world community recognized Kuwait as a state, it can be some understanding in that Iraq's position of that Kuwait was an internal matter. Iraq have the second largest known oil reserves in the world and it is believed that they, when fully explored, will have the largest oil reserves in the world. If US was solely to use it's own oil, the only have known oil reserves for 10+ years (R/P value) of consumption. US have some hopes for finding more oil in Alaska, but it is very unlikely that this will solve US dependence of importing oil. It is proven that the Iraqi regime have locked out US and UK oil companies from participating or getting development contracts regarding the Iraqi oil reserves. Contracts have been signed and approved by the Iraqi congress with Russia and China. Contracts with France and Germany are signed and pending approval. Contracts with Spain and other nations are under discussions. One very dangerous and hostile move by Iraq, was to suggest an oil blockade to force a solution of the Israeli - Palestine conflict. They even themselves tried to front it by closing deliveries of oil deliveries under the food for oil program. It is after this incident that the urgency of regime change aroused in US. An oil blockade would have disastrous effects on the world economy and especially the US. With the strategic reserves only haft full, US is very vulnerable. Probably the most effective WMD that could be used. The argument that Iraq was gassing their own people is based on an incident during the Iraq - Iran conflict. It is not proven if it was a deliberate gassing of Iraq or collateral damage caused by Iraq or Iran. It is clear that it is several question marks around the statement. It is flourishing several contra dictionary reports from people involved with the incident. The highly emotional attempts to link Iraq to the 9/11 is in reality a hijacking of this event for a very dubious purpose. We have to remember that over 100 nations lost citizens. It is true that the event took place in US and that US lost more people than any nation, but to apply this event to propaganda against Iraq have no proven basis and show a disrespect to all the citizens of the countries that also died in 9/11. Iraq have in the propaganda many times been compared with Nazi Germany and the fault of dealing with it at an early stage. A fair analysis show very remote similarities between Iraq and the situation of Nazi Germany before the hostilities in the 30's. This argument can actually be reversed to describe todays US with greater parallel accuracy. This with considering strength, real and constructed risks for terrorist attacks, homeland security, infiltration of political analysts in FBI, right to preventing attack, rights for the American way of life, etc. . This comment is done without taking any position on the issues and only considers historical similarities and how arguments can be used, it is very unlikely that US will have a final development into a dictatorship with ambitions of world domination. It is also very unlikely that Iraq would be allowed or have possibilities to do that too. In the whole flora of arguments, it is difficult to find the imminent terrorist or military international threat or even a military threat to its neighbors. It is very strong arguments for a peaceful disarmament process and a peaceful regime change would probably benefit the region and the world. It is hard to belive that any problem, other than US oil supply and US/UK participation in oil development, would be solved with an US occupation of Iraq against a massive world opinion. Any change of world opinion after the fact is highly speculative and dangerous. Speculations of that US would be a welcomed regime in Iraq, by the Iraqis or the neighbors is also a very speculative and dangerous assumption. Hakan At 03:49 AM 3/5/2003 +0900, you wrote: >http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2799705.stm >BBC NEWS | World | Americas | >Wednesday, 26 February, 2003 >Rumsfeld warns on Iraq arms >Iraq's neighbours will stay out of a war, Rumsfeld predicted >Baghdad's chemical and biological weapons capabilities are likely to >be "more lethal" now than in the 1991 Gulf War, US defence secretary >Donald Rumsfeld has said. >[more] > >"Governments versus Peoples" >by Scott Burchill >February 26, 2003 >http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=40&ItemID=3132 > >"... More ominously, according to the report of a 1994 US Senate >Banking Committee, the "United States provided the government of Iraq >with 'dual-use' licensed materials which assisted in the development >of Iraqi chemical, biological and missile-system programs." According >to the report, this assistance included "chemical warfare-agent >precursors; chemical warfare-agent production facility plans and >technical drawings; chemical warfare-filling equipment; biological >warfare-related materials; missile fabrication equipment and missile >system guidance equipment." These technologies were sent to Iraq >until December 1989, 20 months after the gassing of Halabja. > >"In February 1989, John Kelly, US Assistant Secretary of State, flew >to Baghdad to tell Saddam Hussein that "you are a source for >moderation in the region, and the United States wants to broaden her >relationship with Iraq." This was eleven months after Halabja..." >[more] > >http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_cr/s092002.html >Did the U.S. Help Saddam Acquire Biological Weapons? > >The Record On U.S. Germ Exports To Iraq > >See: >U.S. Germ Exports To Iraq.pdf >http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsd/nsd26.pdf > >Read what Sen. Robert Byrd, D-WV, put in the Congressional Record >concerning the United States government's export of biological >weapons ingredients to Iraq more than a decade ago. When asked by >Byrd about this history as recounted in a recent Newsweek article, >the current Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who met with Saddam >Hussein as an envoy for prior administrations, declined to directly >answer Byrd's questions. > >In this now declassified 1989 White House document, read how the >administration of George Herbert Walker Bush felt Iraq should be >cultivated as a strategic and political ally -- even though there >were fears about Saddam using germ warfare weapons. > >Congressional Record: September 20, 2002 (Senate) >Page S8987-S8998 >[more] Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. 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