Wasting Time With Alex

Friday, January 25, 2008

Saddam lied & people died?

Saddam lied & people died?

See BS has an article dealing with how Saddam was lying about having WMDs to prevent an Iranian invasion. Apparently Saddam feared an Iranian invasion - I am not sure why he did he not think the US would respond to such an invasion with force - and thus despite halting his WMD programs & destroyed his WMD stocks, yet went to great lengths to convince everyone that was not the case. Now, the fact remains that while Saddam had destroyed his stock piles and closed down his WMD operations, that he retained both the capability and personnel to start them up at a moments notice. The usual idiot crowd that wants to pretend Saddam was harmless always seems unable to acknowledge that important fact. But the real issue is that Saddam orchestrated a dangerous campaign of misinformation that convinced everyone he had WMDs. I guess with news like this the usual crowd of idiots that claims the WH shopped for intel or that they made it up now will have to come up with a new fantasy to vilify BushHitler with. Scratch that if they follow their MO they will continue to spout the same crap no matter what evidence is presented to prove them wrong. Libs do not care much about facts or logic.

This interview paints a picture where it looks Saddam confused Bush with that spineless Bill Clinton and expected him to follow suit and just lob a few missiles at empty building while delivering some speeches about how Saddam had to be stopped. I guess nobody explained to Saddam that Bush was not trying to cover up the fact that he was lying & telling other people to lie about his predatory practices with women. Anyway here is the meat of the statement:

“He told me he initially miscalculated… President Bush’s intentions. He thought the United States would retaliate with the same type of attack as we did in 1998...a four-day aerial attack,” says Piro. “He survived that one and he was willing to accept that type of attack.” “He didn’t believe the U.S. would invade?” asks Pelley, “No, not initially,” answers Piro.

Once the invasion was certain, says Piro, Saddam asked his generals if they could hold the invaders for two weeks. “And at that point, it would go into what he called the secret war,” Piro tells Pelley. But Piro isn’t convinced that the insurgency was Saddam’s plan. “Well, he would like to take credit for the insurgency,” says Piro.

Saddam still wouldn’t admit he had no weapons of mass destruction, even when it was obvious there would be military action against him because of the perception he did. Because, says Piro, “For him, it was critical that he was seen as still the strong, defiant Saddam. He thought that [faking having the weapons] would prevent the Iranians from reinvading Iraq,” he tells Pelley.

I think this, while certainly plausible, overlooks another critical aspect of the way things unfolded. Recall that both France & Russia had assured Saddam that for exclusive drilling rights they would first block any real US military action in the UN, and eventually also remove the sanctions. Simply put, Saddam was suckered by “diplomats” that promised to jaw-jaw the US out of taking action. It really looks that he either did not understand the significance of the 9-11 attacks and what it would force the executive to do, seriously thought his bought cronies in the UN or democratic party would stop the US, and that he could keep playing the same games as he had been for the previous 13 years, all with deadly consequences. So obsessed was he with image that he missed the point he could have worked with us and watched us then turn our ire towards Iran.

The problem is that this megalomaniac miscalculated in a huge way what would happen. He did not do it alone however. The UN, and especially the governments of France & Russia at the time that promised to block action, the people that worked hard to hamper the WH, and the mixed messages he received about the fact that this time we where serious, all served to make him believe he would survive this yet again. I guess looking like the strong horse is a big deal.

One has to wonder if this article now comes out so that the leftist can claim that Iran is now doing the same thing Saddam did with their nuclear weapons program: posturing out of fear that if they claim not to have one, the Americans will invade. Of course it will be all wrong. If the Iranians are afraid of an American invasion, the best way to prevent that is to stop supporting terrorism and come clean & allow inspections to have everyone make sure they are not trying to get a bomb. Of course, if your objective is to get a bomb so it can give you cover not only to continue your terror policies but to escalate them, you have zero interests in doing anything but buying time.