Originally posted by Toad
Actually, I think the theory is that it would make biological, chemical and radiological agents less likely to be used in a terrorist attack against the US.
But the chances of avoiding another 9-11 by invading Iraq are still, realistically speaking, zero. Which runs counter to what Cabby seemed to imply. Indeed I would posit that it rather accelerates the chances of a 9-11 type incident. One of the many reasons I am against the invasion & regime change option as a method of disarming Iraq.
Although there is that case of "Islamicists" training on a Boeing 707 parked in Salman Pak from about 1995 to as recently as September 2000. Corroborated by two Iraqi defectors, Sabah Khalifa Khodada Alami and a former intelligence officer who defected in early 2001. Through a translator, Mr. Alami described, according to the Wall street Journal, a daily regimen of exercises on kidnapping, assassination, and -- using a Boeing 707 parked inside the complex -- how to hijack a plane or bus without weapons. He said that a separate group of non-Iraqis were being similarly trained by Saddam's intelligence service, the mukhabarat.
After September 11th, a private US satellite photo company, Space Imaging, went through its archives and found a photo that included a plane parked in the Salman Pak compound.
But I'm sure that's all bogus information and must be dismissed.
From your POV, of course.
I'm afraid so - I'm treating this whole affair like any messy squabble - neither the US nor the Iraqi governments can be trusted any futher than they can be spat.
How fortuitous that Space Imaging found that picture in their archive. That would be the same Space Imaging that sold all the exclusive rights to their stock of images of Afghan bomb damage to the pentagon, and the same company that just got a $120 million government mapping contract (with a five-year ceiling of $500 million) shortly after finding the archived picture, and no doubt in a squeaky clean vision of the US government, these incidents are all unrelated.
"It definitely is the largest contract we've received to date," said Gary Napier, of Space Imaging. "And that satellite imagery would be used for mapping any part of the world for the Dept. of Defense."
SourceNothing eldritch about that, I'm sure. OK, so the US Department of Defence has its own imaging satellites, but I'm sure they're all way too busy doing super crack elite secret stuff. And of course defectors wouldn't ever make up exciting stories just to get green cards and government allowances. (Or if you like your stories a bit more paranoid - CIA guy: "Go on TV and say this and we'll let you stay." Iraqi defector: "Sure. And the subscription to Penthouse?" CIA guy: "Lifetime guaranteed." Iraqi defector: "Where do I sign? I am ready for my close up now!") Hark at my cynicism, next I'll be be portraying these Iraqi defectors as turncoats or something!
Sorry, but it sounds suspiciously like propaganda to me: so I'll take it with a large pinch of salt, same as the Iraqi position of "we ain't got nothing to hide".
I may be being overly cynical, but I have seen enough fights to not take either side's accusations of the other's evilness whilst maintaining their own "butter wouldn't melt" position at face value. Watch an episode of "People's Court" before you read or watch another thing about Iraq. It's nasty medicine, but it beefs the cynicism gland right up.
I personally hope that the US & France are involved in a kind of good cop, bad cop routine on Iraq to get them to comply. I hope it works too. I hope it forces a few more countries to refrain from the proliferation of WMD, especially biological weapons (nudge, nudge). But I'm not sure how much of that nice fantasy scenario I believe. However: The invasion replacement plan is a dreadful political minefield, and the sort of thing that has lead to some of the worst sociopathic regimes of the last 50 years, a club in which Saddam could probably be included. And any government installed in Iraq would be instantly labelled a US puppet by the rest of the Arab world, and probably rightly so, which may lead to much worse trouble a decade on.
