tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6953212.post111894711736006524..comments2023-11-05T04:00:06.189-06:00Comments on Toehold: Bush decided, then lied about it.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08945657000272452084noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6953212.post-1119492212014367742005-06-22T21:03:00.000-05:002005-06-22T21:03:00.000-05:00I'll see if I can find the linkage, but until I do...I'll see if I can find the linkage, but until I do, two thoughts:<BR/><BR/>"Fixed around" is not the same thing as "fixed". In other words, the Bush administration was going through the intelligence data as you might a buffet table. A little bit of nuclear proliferation, a dab of WMD, perhaps a dollop of ties to al Quaida. Now, there were dissenting opinions as to these intelligence data (a casserole of total disarmament, a salad of no terror ties, etc) - but intelligence is a messy game. There are rarely hard and fast absolutes - and so it is fairly normal (as I understand it) to go with what is more likely.<BR/><BR/>In this case, we knew that he possessed WMDs at one point (since we sold them), and pretty much every country spent the 1990's telling each other how bad Saddam was, and how much evil he was wanting to do. So, Occam's Razor (and human nature) would indicate that intelligence which indicated this is more probable than intelligence which indicated otherwise.<BR/><BR/>Second (finally): IIRC, there was a 1998 Senate resolution in which the US Senate voted, as a matter of foreign policy, for regime change in Iraq. If this is correct, then any President (either Clinton, or the winner of 2000) should have been putting together a plan to do this. It might have been through pressure in the UN, it might have been through overt military action, whatever. Personally, if I had been elected President, I would have thought about taking care of Iraq as well - I'd certainly come into office with plans for possible military action in Iraq, Iran, N. Korea, China, etc. The military has those in place (as well as an invasion plan for Canada and England, I imagine. It pays to be prepared, just in case.)<BR/><BR/>Anyway, while it might seem a tad suprising that the decision was in place, it shouldn't be. It was almost a given that the UN wouldn't do anything more forceful than pass another resolution - which Saddam was likely to ignore as well.Garouhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13576646558381494373noreply@blogger.com