posted
So, did anybody ELSE actually watch Colin Powell's presentation to the UN Security Council this morning?
Total victory - Powell.
Even France is backpedaling. They've already issued a statement changing their position from "War is not an option" to "War is an option of last resort"... and they haven't even had time to analyze and digest the findings.
-------------------- "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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posted
Y'know, not wanting to bust your bubble or anything, but getting France to back down is like being the big powerful jock, and losing your virginity to the class slut. Woohoo, you did it, but so did the scrawny little nerd a tenth your size.
quote: First, they acknowledge that our colleague, Mohamed ElBaradei, is coming, and they know what he�s coming for, and they know he�s coming the next day. He�s coming to look for things that are prohibited. He is expecting these gentlemen to cooperate with him and not hide things. But they�re worried. �We have this modified vehicle. What do we say if one of them sees it?� What is their concern? Their concern is that it�s something they should not have, something that should not be seen. The general is incredulous: �You didn�t get a modified. You don�t have one of those, do you?� �I have one.� �Which, from where?� �From the workshop, from the Al Kendi (ph) Company?� �What?� �From Al Kendi (ph).� �I�ll come to see you in the morning. I�m worried. You all have something left.� �We evacuated everything. We don�t have anything left.� Note what he says: �We evacuated everything.� We didn�t destroy it. We didn�t line it up for inspection. We didn�t turn it into the inspectors. We evacuated it to make sure it was not around when the inspectors showed up. �I will come to you tomorrow.� The Al Kendi (ph) Company: This is a company that is well known to have been involved in prohibited weapons systems activity.
-------------------- "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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posted
I give it until after the 14th, when Blix will make his next report.
Predictions: Blix will report that the Iraqis are still not forthcoming.
The US will pressure the UNSC for a vote on a war resolution.
The holdouts will complain and bicker, but all those with veto powers will eventually come around.
Aerial bombing of military targets will commence shortly thereafter.
-------------------- "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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posted
OTOH, if the Iraqis actually were to start complying as they are supposed to under the resolutions, I could wait indefinitely.
However, I remain unconvinced that there's any greater chance of that happening than there is of my being whisked away by pixies to the Land of Nymphomanic Eightteen-Year-Old Tori Amos Lookalikes.
-------------------- "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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posted
Killing people is so awesome!
Registered: Mar 1999
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RANCH4x4
Ex-Member
posted
My Air force colonel is telling us we are waiting for the new "super tank" to unveil before heading over to Iraq. Suppose to be out sometime this month.
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
I'm impressed.
Not by the evidence presented, which is so insubstantial that I can't help but marvel at the utter, brilliant absence of ANY thrustworthy data gathered over the past ten years, but by Powell's vivid interpretation of it.
-satellite images? Haven't seen that level of pixelation since, oh, 1970 (their resolution was deliberately blurred, of course, but when you're rallying international support, sharing intelligence on a need-to-know basis is not a clever tactic to employ). Chemical plant or K-Mart, ambiguity runs wild!
-trucks? Why weren't they tracked BEFORE and AFTER leaving the compound, if there was that much suspicious movement?
-ICBMs? The moment Saddam launches ONE, he finds himself on the business end of one THOUSAND with superior guidance systems. I'm quaking in my boots now that his new toys have a demonstrated range of 1000 clicks.
-taped conversations about nerve agents? Uhm, right. No secret codes? When your lines are tapped? Recordings of discussions THAT open are fabricated and you know it.
quote:it's a faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!
-terrorism? Saddam is now intrinsically linked to every right-winger's favorite buzzword, despite both the CIA *and* MI5 failing to implicate him, and we're supposed to take Powell's word for it?
Let the grudge-match begin! Jihad vs. MacWorld, all bets are off.
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
Killing people is not a great 'thing'. It is a terrible tragedy.
I heard the speech on C-Span. I wasn't impressed. Then again, from having read magazines such as Time and Newsweek, my view may have been biased. According to the reports in those magazines, the administration is building a case upon the information provided by informants considered not credible by the CIA. This agency has a name for this type of intelligence-Kuridtint.
As for the ricin poison camp in northeast Iraq, I hope none of you believe this camp is under President Hussein's control for it isn't. This camp is in the northern no-fly zone. If we know the camp is in an area which our planes, both British and American, are patrolling, then why haven't we bombed or at least gain control of the facility?
As for the other bits of released intelligence, I agree with the other nations that the inspectors must verify wheter or not these facilities are actually being used for the reasons stated by the US.
The taped conversations could have taken place in the last ten years, or been doctored. I doubt the latter.
Registered: Sep 2002
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quote:-trucks? Why weren't they tracked BEFORE and AFTER leaving the compound, if there was that much suspicious movement?
-ICBMs? The moment Saddam launches ONE, he finds himself on the business end of one THOUSAND with superior guidance systems. I'm quaking in my boots now that his new toys have a demonstrated range of 1000 clicks.
-taped conversations about nerve agents? Uhm, right. No secret codes? When your lines are tapped? Recordings of discussions THAT open are fabricated and you know it.
Point by point:
1. Spy sattelites don't work that way, and you know it. That George Clooney movie? It lies.
2. Nobody said ICBM's. Ballistic missiles. With capabilities beyond what Saddam is allowed to have. This is a violation, plain and factual. Can they reach you? No. And apparently you're self-centered enough that that satisfies you.
3. Please. Fortunately, the other nations' intelligence services know more about faking communications than you do. If it was fake, their intel people (especially France's) would jump all over it in a nanosecond. You, on the other hand, have all your intel data from an episode of a SF series, can be expected to know better than they?
I know who the fake is here. I'm responding to him right now.
-------------------- "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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posted
First, I hardly think that personally insulting a fellow forum-goer is hardly proper etiquette. as the old saying goes "If you don't have anything good to say... shut the frell up"
And in reference to the comment about foreign intelligence community picking up on potentially faked communications, I would like to point out that one has hardly enough time to analyze all of the information presented. I highly doubt that even the most skilled of intelligence experts would have an easy time simply listening to those recordings or glancing at those blurred satellite images and delcaring "Eureka! You son of a bush! You doctored those!
-------------------- Move .sig!!
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
Besides, even if parts of the evidence are found to be faked, there is very little reason for any party to make that fact public. Save for those parties that won't be believed anyway.
What worries me more is the sudden jump from "He defied 1441" to "Thus, war it is". That's not what 1441 says, AFAIK.
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