quote:You misread my statement. The above opinions are misperceptions. That is, Bush never said either of those things. But a large number of the antiwar people believe he did, and often argue from that mistaken belief.
Yeah, because Mr. Bush actually said:
quote:The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.
Hussein sought to buy this uranium from what Africa country counsel?
Why reports have that country being Niger.
Well, well.
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
They get Fox news in Britain on Sky, too. I remember seeing it once. It was about a survey they did in response to BBC's "What the world thinks of America" survey. The survey was pretty misleading, too, actually.
quote:You misread my statement. The above opinions are misperceptions. That is, Bush never said either of those things. But a large number of the antiwar people believe he did, and often argue from that mistaken belief.
Yeah, because Mr. Bush actually said:
quote:The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.
Hussein sought to buy this uranium from what Africa country counsel?
Why reports have that country being Niger.
Well, well.
Untrue. There have been reports from several different countries.
I should also indicate that while the Niger documents were shown to have been forgeries (of possible French origin), and while former ambassador Wilson's disputed report says otherwise, no credible source has disproved, or even disputed, British Intelligence's claim that Hussein attempted to acquire said uranium.
Registered: Mar 1999
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-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:The Roland anti-aircraft system is a short-range air defense missile in service with at least 10 countries, including France and Germany.
But of course these ones came directly from France. They must have. And, when it turns out they didn't, will there be a retraction? Nope. The spin is complete.
quote:But Iraq managed to circumvent the arms trade ban in the 1990s through shadowy deals with various arms traders and kept its military equipment functioning.
So if there are French weapons in Iraq, then these arms dealers must have been French, right? Because everyone knows arms dealers only sell weapons from their own country, it's a point of professional pride with them.
quote:Among others, Russia, Britain and France all sold arms to Iraq in the 1970s and 1980s. In Iraq's arsenal were Soviet-built Scud missiles, British Chieftain tanks and French Mirage fighters.
Oh, how wonderfully, deliciously coy! Do we think these others could possibly include the United States of America? I think we could!
posted
Hey, only for the chemical weapons and protection gear...
Lee, with that attitude you would have us beleive we were pro-Saddam when he was at war with Iran... Oh, um, ahhh, never mind....
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
I don't know why, but skimming through that link made me think I should call my brother....
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Rummy: Is that a WMD in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
Now, we can call them the Saddam loving Fox News!!
quote:The second-in-command at the information ministry, who spent his days reading the reports the minders wrote about visiting foreign journalists, has been employed by Fox News.
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
quote:The Roland anti-aircraft system is a short-range air defense missile in service with at least 10 countries, including France and Germany.
But of course these ones came directly from France. They must have. And, when it turns out they didn't, will there be a retraction? Nope. The spin is complete.
To play devil's advocate, I'd like to point out that if the report is accurate and the missiles WERE made in France in 2003, that leaves barely a three-month window of opportunity to get those missiles from the factory to the Iraqi desert before Dubya finally chewed through his leash and started the actual attack.
Considering that short a time span, the shorter the route, the better.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:To play devil's advocate, I'd like to point out that if the report is accurate and the missiles WERE made in France in 2003
They weren't made in 2003- there was just confusion over the serial numbers painted on them- there was an article in the paper (Telegraph- hardly pro-Frog) about it. The Roland missiles haven't been manufactured for a number of years, apparently.
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
AFAIK, the problem with Roland was that it *couldn't* be sold to two-bit governments and assorted counterinsurgents, due to the excessive price. Even NATO countries found it too expensive. The Franco-German consortium had placed its bets on the US buying the system, as US Army theater air defense by then had a long tradition of being in shambles, and their Sergeant York fiasco had eroded faith in domestic products. US Army wasn't interested, though, so the price went skyrocketing while the missiles did not. (Today, there are eleven operators, mostly in Europe. The Roland project has been merged with Thompson-CSF's more successful Crotale, so that Crotale NG and Roland 3 use the same missile. The Iraqi find did not feature this modern version, though, AFAIK.)
Iraq of the late eighties would probably have been a good second option for the Roland. Iraq of the nineties would not, since you need a rich buyer for these kinds of weapon systems - you get him hooked on the product, then you sell maintenance, spares and reloads. For poor and desperate folks, you dump something from the lower price range, in a single package.
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