Figures

Back when the debate over whether or not we should go to war in Iraq was hot and heavy, I had a series of arguments with a cousin of mine who lives in DC. He was still greatly disturbed by 9-11 and so he wanted some revenge which I believe clouded his better judgement. He was all for going to war in Iraq so I tried to use logic and the facts that were knows at the time to convince him that he was wrong. My main selling point was that we already had UN weapons inspectors there. If we were really so sure he had WMDs why not just let them do their job and then when and if they found anything take appropriate actions then. Why in the hell were we trying to rush the very people who could verify the "intelligence" we had, out of the damn country before they were done and before they had found anything?

Well his big point always came back to the fact that Saddam Hussein was always denying access to the weapons inspectors and playing games with the process.

Now honestly I didn't have any kind of special insight to Middle Eastern foreign policy at the time. But I did have a healthy dose of common sense and a map. It seemed obvious to me that Saddam knew that after we kicked his ass in 91 he would probably look quite vulernable to his neihbors in the region. Iraq also isn't the biggest country in that area either when you look at it on the map. So it would make perfect sense as a deterrent to make it seem as if at the least he MIGHT have WMDs. After what went down with the Iran/Iraq war where he used chemical and biological weapons on the Iranian forces, I was pretty sure that just the thought the he might do that type of thing again was a good deterrent to any country who might be considering an attack.

Now unfortuanately at the time my cousin didn't buy my argument (he has since apologized to me) and it was moot anyway because BushCo was bound and determined to go to war.

But at least now I know that I was pretty much right with my assessment.

Saddam Hussein told an FBI interviewer before he was hanged that he allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he was worried about appearing weak to Iran, according to declassified accounts of the interviews released yesterday.

Now obviously that could have just been Saddam posturing, but really he knew at that point he had nothing else to lose. But of course its all moot now when it boils down to it isn't it?

Never Again!