Israelis Bomb Nuke Site???

[VRM]

Originally Posted by Jamo

Shhhhhhhh...........!

Dang! Just as we were getting into some nice chewy history stuff!
Oh well... back to our regularly scheduled topic (sorry for the hijack Mike ).

I'm not so sure about Iraq having WMD and moving them to Syria. I think that if Hussein had them he would have used them against us in a last ditch effort to make our casualties so high that we would stop in our tracks.

The inspectors were there (before we kicked them out) and they found no evidence of any WMD in Iraq, and they had complete freedom to inspect anything they wanted.

Also, if it was actually Iraqs WMD then the current administration would be shouting it from the rooftops in vindication.

Steve

[rdorman]

Oh, they are there. As for not shouting it from the rooftops, think escalation of commitment and look at the timing of the discovery versus invasion. Also, take a look at who says the movement of stockpiles and technology did not occur and who says it did. Also, the involvement of the UN inspectors from Moscow. Not to mention the interesting involvement from Moscow in the days proceeding and their escalation with Damascus since the fall of Sadam. A 'shot gun wedding' if you will.

Imagine stating that we are invading because of WMD's, finding out as you are set that they are no longer there (almost after the fact) and then saying we are going to invade anyways. All of that happened, except the 'saying' part. Better to ask foregiveness rather then permission? What a tangled web we weave.

[bomelia]

Originally Posted by VRM

Dang! Just as we were getting into some nice chewy history stuff!
Oh well... back to our regularly scheduled topic (sorry for the hijack Mike ).

I'm not so sure about Iraq having WMD and moving them to Syria. I think that if Hussein had them he would have used them against us in a last ditch effort to make our casualties so high that we would stop in our tracks.

The inspectors were there (before we kicked them out) and they found no evidence of any WMD in Iraq, and they had complete freedom to inspect anything they wanted.

Also, if it was actually Iraqs WMD then the current administration would be shouting it from the rooftops in vindication.

Steve

Are you preparing your retractions? How about some humble pie?

Mike

[VRM]

Mike,
The Israel stuff is 100% true (and I didn't even get the part about Dr Ruth being a sniper ). No retractions there.

I would LOVE to be wrong about there being no WMD in Iraq! We look like idiots due to really bad planning, and the fact that nothing has shown up when we were 'certain' that they were there has made things worse. It would help our credibility (and thus our ability to get problems solved) to be able to prove that they are/were there.

No retraction now, but I have no problem making one should I be wrong.

BTW, any arguments I make are not done on an emotional level at all. I don't have an ego that needs to be right, nor does my ego get bruised if I am wrong. In this case, I think I am right based on what I know of the situation, and how the players have acted in the past. There are a couple of scenarios that could have happened that would make me wrong, but I think they are unlikely because it would mean a change in MO for a number of players.

We will see...

[rdorman]

It was known that there where movements in the days before the war. They had the satelite images to show it. The intelligence was probably not all that clear yet as to what was being moved but they could watch as missile installations and other 'sites of interest' where be systematically dismantled. I am not in the position to know secrets, just a 'rumor' I 'heard' VERY early on and with all the evidence that has come to light, the Syrian theory is now not only plausible, but likely.

Moscow thumbed its nose, albeit secretly, at the UN and was looking to cover its tracks.

But not just to Syria did they go. Also Lebanon and Iran. But, only so much we can deal with at a time...... on to the next.

More of current interest. While Iran and Ahmadinejad are putting up a cool and defiant front, I hear that interally, they are all completely freaking out. They are worried to death that the US will invade. They, like Saddam, know that they don't stand a chance in hell. They saw what we did to Sadam's military and his was more 'powerful'. They are pulling their hair out in Tehran.

The media propaganda campaign on both sides is in full swing. Ahmadinejad recent visit was most likely a version of his own trying to 'win the hearts and minds' of Americans by trying to show his 'softer side', trying to show that he is not the monster that western media is portraying. Wanting to visit the Trade Center site to pay his respects, brilliant. If I where them, I would be $hitting bullets too. Large forces of ships in the Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf, air bases all over the place, over 200,000 trained and experienced troops on both flanks... completely surrounded.

[REAL 1]

VRM doesn't need to retract the "Israeli stuff" as its also historically and politically insignificant and really irrelevant to the real problems and current problems.

Iran, also just gave the world the "middle finger" at the UN with regard to their nuclear program. Trouble is a brewing for sure.

[bomelia]

Explosion Aborts CW Project Run By Iran and Syria

Robin Hughes Jane’s Defense Weekly 26 Sep 2007
A joint development program by Iran and Syria to weaponize Syrian’s 'Scud B', 'Scud C' and 'Scud D' short-range ballistic missiles with chemical warheads has been aborted following an explosion at a classified missile production laboratory in Aleppo, northern Syria, in July.
The program falls under a strategic co-operation accord signed between Syria and Iran in November 2005.
The agreement included provisions ranging from "the supply of weapons and ammunition, the training of Syrian personnel, co-operation and continuous transfer of technology and equipment in the areas of weapons of mass destruction [particularly the upgrade of Syrian missile and chemical warfare [CW] capabilities] to Iranian troops operating advanced weapon systems in Syria during a military confrontation [with the West]".
Syrian defense sources told Jane's that during a 26 July test to weaponize a 500 km 'Scud C' with a mustard gas warhead, an explosion occurred in a laboratory adjacent to a chemical agent storage facility located in a Syrian military camp in Aleppo. The explosion killed 15 Syrian military personnel and "dozens" of Iranian missile weaponization engineers.
According to the sources: "The explosion occurred when fuel caught alight in the missile production laboratory”.
"The blast dispersed chemical agents (including VX and Sarin nerve agents and mustard blister agent) across the storage facility and outside. Other Iranian engineers were seriously injured with chemical burns to exposed body parts not protected by safety overalls."
The cause of the fire is still under investigation by a unit attached to the Syrian foreign intelligence service.
In the interim, the regime in Damascus has moved to curtail media exposure of the blast and has destroyed all information to indicate that the site of the explosion included a missile fuel production laboratory and that Iranian experts had been injured in the explosion.