COMensarations
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Shell Games in the Sand I
Where are the Iraqi WMDs?
An associate of mine and I have been going around on the ‘mystery’ of where Saddam Hussein’s fabulous Weapons of Mass Distruction (WMDs) are at since they have not been found, en masse, in Iraq since the overthrow of the tyrant.
Please correct me if I’m wrong here, compadre, but as I understand it your opinion is that there were no such things in Iraq.
The question I have about that poisition is whether you mean there NEVER were any such things? Or that there were none in Iraq at the time we overran it?
It would be good to sort that position out before we continue the discussion.
Next entry: Watching History Repeat Itself....Once Again Previous entry: Reason to Celebrate?-
There are no such things as WMDs. The Pentagon has spent billions developing weapons that are precise, “surgical”, and present no risk of “collateral damage”. With regard to Iraq, if they had had “WMD"s, which they didn’t, how were they going to deliver them? A canister of nerve gas sitting in the basement of one of Saddam’s palaces certainly constituted no threat to Pueblo, CO. If Shrub The Elder hadn’t been such a pussy, the Hussein-problem could have been resolved in the early 90s. Didn’t Shrub The Elder decide that Saddam was a “stabilizing influence” while the good ol’ Yoo Ess of Ay left the Kurds holding the bag?
on 03/27 at 12:41 PM -
TO: Bruno Joquera
RE: I Can See…“There are no such things as WMDs.”—Bruno Jorguera
...that we’re going to have a LOT of fun over the English language here.
“With regard to Iraq, if they had had “WMD"s, which they didn’t, how were they going to deliver them? “—Bruno Joquera
Are you saying that the Iraqis NEVER used nerve gas against the Kurds? Nor against the Iranians?
Or, with respect to delivery systems, the Iraqis never had SCUD missiles? Or, perhaps, that SCUD missiles cannot be used to equipped with chemical, biological or perhaps nuclear warheads?
If you are saying such, would you please explain how it is you came to these opinions?
RE: The Local Threat
“A canister of nerve gas sitting in the basement of one of Saddam’s palaces certainly constituted no threat to Pueblo, CO.”—Bruno Jorquera
A packet of Sarin, a Soviet persistant nerve agent, was recovered from Fallujah during the fighting there. It wasn’t very large, but it could have killed several thousand people. More than died on 9/11, under the proper circumstances.
It could be readily delivered to any place in the world by someone with a simple attache case. Even Pueblo.
The same is true for Small Atomic Demolition Munitions (SADMs). Just a simple largish suit case will carry one.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
on 03/27 at 01:45 PM -
Review my comments on the Kurds. Shrub the Elder left them holding the bag. I doubt if he wanted them to be gassed but he certainly enabled the gassing.
The last time I looked, SCUD missiles had no intercontinental capabilities. Saddam however, probably had an active program on track to turbocharge them.
Re Fallujah, I was totally unaware that the operations there were oriented toward denying the “insurgents” the opportunity to attack Pueblo. Thanks for clearing that up for me. I’m sure you’ve slept more easily after that “incursion”. Whew!
SADMs: I’ve heard a lot about these from the CNNoids, etc. Has anyone ever seen one? I’m sure, however, that the TSA goons can stop them. They are doing a superb job of protecting everyone from fingernail clippers and matchbooks.
on 03/28 at 07:47 AM -
TO: Bruno Jorquera
RE: History LessonsReview my comments on the Kurds. Shrub the Elder left them holding the bag. I doubt if he wanted them to be gassed but he certainly enabled the gassing. Bruno Jorquera
As I recall the gas attacks took place under the Reagan administration. Or do you have different information?
The great gas attack took place on 16 March 1988. Bush the Elder was only Vice President at that time.
If you want to blame someone, please be so kind as to blame the proper person. Otherwise you look rather ‘interesting’ with your severe case of what we in the military would call ‘target fixation’.
RE: The Ever Shifting ‘Target’
The last time I looked, SCUD missiles had no intercontinental capabilities. Saddam however, probably had an active program on track to turbocharge them.—Bruno Jorquera
Gee. Earlier you were complaining about Saddam Hussein lacking adequate means to deliever WMDs. I reminded you of SCUDs. Now you’re insisting that he have ICBMs.
Moving the proverbial ‘goal posts’, are we? Not that I’m surprised. I see this sort of tactic all the time. But I don’t abide by it. Nor with it.
RE: Of WMDs, Fallujah and Pueblo
Re Fallujah, I was totally unaware that the operations there were oriented toward denying the “insurgents” the opportunity to attack Pueblo. Thanks for clearing that up for me. I’m sure you’ve slept more easily after that “incursion”. Whew!—Bruno Jorquera
Well. This is hardly surprising, you’re being ‘totally unaware’. See the previous comments in this, my latest, reply. You seem to be unaware of a lot of things.
And, yes, I do sleep better. And I’ll bet you do too.
However, as I pointed out earlier, it’s easy to slip something into this country. Heck. What was it reported so timely yesterday, how federal agents acting as a ‘tiger team’ smuggled radioactive materials through our alleged defenses as part of a test of security.
Or did you ‘miss’ that one? ‘Totally unaware’, again? If you are, then please check out THIS report....
SADMs: I’ve heard a lot about these from the CNNoids, etc. Has anyone ever seen one? I’m sure, however, that the TSA goons can stop them. They are doing a superb job of protecting everyone from fingernail clippers and matchbooks.—Bruno Jorquera
Has anyone seen one?
Well...if you must know...as a combat engineer, I’m relatively familiar with them. Although they never got to the point that I had to actually deploy them, being a former Deep-Targeting Cell Chief for 4ID(M).
So. I know they exist. Not only in our arsenal but in the former Soviet Union’s as well.
But again, you seem to be slipping off the point for some interesting reason.
Why do you suppose that is?
Regards,
Chuck(le)
on 03/28 at 09:49 AM -
My mistake about the Kurds. I was thinking about the fun and games up there following “Desert Storm”. Along the same lines, people sometimes get a little hazy about who is “protecting and defending the Constitution”. They all look alike to me and they certainly act alike.
Re: “Tiger Team”. I recall that a couple of days after 911, an airline pilot went through “security” carrying an unloaded handgun and then complained about the lax security. He was, of course, arrested and fired from his job. His crime was probably something akin to a “lack of respect” to those brave men and women who are “defending our freedoms” by strip searching 85 year old women who have undergone hip replacement.
Re SADMs: Thank you for verifying what I’ve always suspected. That the “Land of The Free” in fact maintains some sort of arsenal oriented toward wiping out civilians and which have no valid military use. You must be very proud of your “service”.
on 03/28 at 10:39 AM -
TO: Bruno Jorquera
RE: Thanks…“My mistake about the Kurds.”—Bruno Jorquera
RE: Can You Say, “Cognitive Disonance”?
“I was thinking about the fun and games up there following “Desert Storm”.”—Bruno Jorquera
Oh. You’re talking about the Shia in Basra and other parts of southern Iraq. Is this correct?
Tell me. What do you actually ‘know’ about international affairs, Host Nation Support (HSN) and waging war in the modern age?
Are you a graduate of either the Combined Arms Staff and Service School (CAS3), Command and General Staff Course (CGSC), Logistics Executive Development Course (LEDC) or, perhaps the War College?
How much history have you studied? How many histroy books are in your library and you’ve read?
What do you know about the politics of the Middle East, vis-a-vis Islam’s internicine ‘fun and games’; Sunni-y-Shia?
I suspect I know a LOT more about such things than you do. And I’m willing to share that information. But considering the way you jump around from one topic to another, i.e., not staying on this topical thread’s area of interest, I have serious doubts that you are willing to learn anything. You’re just blasting away at whatever pops into your head.
Seriously. Look at your first paragraph (immediately above). First you talk about Kurds. Then you allude to Shia. Then you do a rather schitzie jump over to “defending the Constitution”. After that you get into (1) airline security and (2) strip-searches of little old ladies.
But you never seem to be able to tie ANY of that into a cogent discussion of this topic; were there WMDs in Iraq....
I suspect that if you were in elementary school, today, the teachers would have you so doped on Ritalin you’d hardly be able to type your own name.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
P.S. And yes...I am. All 27 years of it; enlisted, NCO, officer, active and reserve. And I do miss jumping out of perfectly good aircraft with 63 other men.on 03/28 at 12:55 PM -
TO: makhno
RE: Speaking of Waiting…...I’m still waiting for you to answer my simple question, as put forward in this entry.
Earlier, you sent me an e-mail suggesting that you had not seen the post that I proposed to open our discussion on the WMDs and Saddam Hussein. And I pointed it out to you. However, you have not made any comment here.
I think the question I ask is reasonable. And it certainly is important.
Please respond....
Regards,
Chuck(le)
on 03/29 at 02:54 PM