From: Andy Brice (andyb1@btclick.com)
Date: Tue Aug 13 2002 - 16:59:11 MDT
From: <joedees@bellsouth.net>
> > Unethical indeed. But also a sign of desperation and hopelessness.
> > Apart from terrorism or complete submission to the Israeli state, what
> > other choices do they have? Israel has backed the Palestians into a
> > corner.
> >
> I think that recently it is largely the other way around; the Palestinian
> militants, through 70+ suicide bombings in the past two years, have
> forced the Israeli government into taking the defensive measures that it
> has. If the Palestinian violence would stop, I'm quite sure that the
> restrictions would be eased, and soon.
I'm not sure what you mean by 'defensive measures' - bulldozing houses and
attacking apartments blocks with helicopter gunships? I can only see that
creating more hatred and a new generation of terrorists. Its very difficult
to defend against someone who is prepared to blow himself up.
> >
> > I would suggest that if the USA wants to confront a state in the
> > middle east that is threatening the stability of the region,
> > oppressing vast numbers of people and has ready access to weapons of
> > mass destruction, then it should confront Israel before it confronts
> > Iraq. Iraq has already had its infrastructure completely destroyed and
> > I am unconvinced about its ability to threaten anyone, especially if
> > the UN inspectors are let back in.
> >
> But they won't be, it seems; saying that they might be appears to have
> been just a diversionary propaganda ploy by Saddam Hussein.
Saddam may be playing games, or he may not. But I don't think the offer
should be dismissed out of hand. Currently the dialog seems to be along the
lines of:
USA: Iraq is building weapons of mass destruction. She won't let UN
inspectors in. So we will invade.
Iraq: We have decided to let UN weapons inspectors in.
USA: We don't believe you. We're going to invade anyway.
> >
> > Or could be that the USA's main interest is in securing Iraq's oil
> > reserves?
> >
> Nope. There is plenty of oil to go around, especially with the new
> caspian sea fields coming on line soon. The US just doesn't want Iraq
> to choke off Saudi Arabia's oil exports.
Plenty of oil to go around. I think thats the first time I have ever heard
that said!
So what is the real reason to invade Iraq?
If the USA thinks it has a legitimate reason to topple the regime in Iraq
then it should get a UN mandate first.
Andy Brice
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