Saddam's Mig buried in sand....photo

[Nash]

Originally posted by Holden McGroin
As I remember it Nash, there was a weather consideration about the force. (which constituted a the threat to SH)

Either they were going to fight in spring at the latest or they would have to fight in Iraqi summer heat in chem suits.  The biggest casualty would have been heat stroke.

Go in despite it being a complete mistake, because the weather was good?

The other option would have been to demobilize, remove the threat to SH regime that was starting to work, and remobilize the next year.

Go thru all the diplomacy BS again, probably more SC meetings, rebuild a coalition, etc.  This was the option SH was hoping GWB would choose.

Or the third option was to keep them were they were. Like we're all saying, that threat was working. Let the inspectors complete their job.

It was a use it or lose it situation.

That's kinda tunnelvision-like. Because those troops WERE working already. They didn't need for them to actually invade for them to work.

How much has this cost, this fiasco?

[Torque]

Who killed UNSCOM?

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/unscom/experts/whokilled.html

[NUKE]

Originally posted by Nash
Okay lets backtrack then, and try to sum this up...

There is currently a bloodbath in Iraq (and holy, the foreign policy rammifications are... nuts) because of "insignificant" amounts of WMD that the pulled inspectors would have discovered anyways?

There is less of a bloodbath in Iraq than when Saddam ruled. Now Iraqis have hope.

[Nash]

Yeah okay, you keep telling yourself that...

This is off-topic slightly, but does anyone here get how huge this is?

[NUKE]

Originally posted by Nash
Yeah okay, you keep telling yourself that...

This is off-topic slightly, but does anyone here get how huge this is?

huge what is?

[Nash]

The Iraq war...

[NUKE]

Originally posted by Nash
The Iraq war...

The Iraq war is huge...a huge positive for the middle east.

[Nash]

mkay... Gotta run! Cheerio!

[NUKE]

Originally posted by Nash
mkay... Gotta run! Cheerio!

yeah, best let the fanatics run free....

I'm going to bed too

[Holden McGroin]

Originally posted by Nash
Go in despite it being a complete mistake, because the weather was good?

Mistake is a 20/20 hindsight opinion.  I was giving you a tactical consideration.  Why was the invasion of Normandy in the first week of June? Phase of the moon, tides, etc were favorable.  Why June 6 instead of June 5? Weather.  Weather is an extremely important consideration.  

Or the third option was to keep them were they were. Like we're all saying, that threat was working. Let the inspectors complete their job.

The weather window was closing in Iraq. Our commanders knew it, and SH knew it.  The threat was based upon the readiness of our armed forces. A sure fire way to ruin an army's readiness is to move them into the middle of the Arabian desert and make them sit in a 115 F tent for a few months.  

How much has this cost, this fiasco?

There is also a dollar cost associated with letting troops bake in the desert doing nothing.

[CurtissP-6EHawk]

Originally posted by NUKE
I would say that 9 times out of ten, someone happens upon the body by accident. That is how most bodies are found...by people passing by.

....and is exactly how these planes (or at least the one) were found. Go read it. Someone saw the two vertical fins sticking out of the sand!

[slimm50]

I wonder what kind of equipment they're using to look for these things. Anybody have an idea? I mean, there's all kinds of flyover gravimetric equipment,  truck-mounted seismic equipment, etc, that can locate likely petroleum-bearing lithologies thousands of feet beneath the surface. Are they using any of that technology? Just curious. Anybody in here know?[/IMG]
How bout this?