An apology letter written to Hans Blix. Well that's all fine and dandy, but don't title it "On Behalf Of The American People". You don't speak for me. I speak my own opinions well enough. Besides, perhaps you should take a look at some of the things that Hans Blix's team complained about before the invasion of Iraq. Such as Saddam not allowing his team to go into certain areas at certain times. Getting blocked access to certain sites all together. Saddam had been doing this for 12 years, firing on our aircraft patrolling the No Fly Zone set up after the first Gulf war. Russian Intelligence confirmed Saddam was plotting terrorist attacks on American soil. Saddam also had made plans to assassinate George H.W. Bush. You can't tell me Saddam didn't deserve to be ousted because he wasn't a threat. After 9/11, we cannot afford to allow threats to remain. And yes, I know that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, but when you see a threat and you find pictures like this, they don't deserve to be left alone.
So don't tell Hans that "we're" sorry, tell him you're sorry.
Travis
travis@right wing lunatic.com
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"... things that Hans Blix's team complained about before the invasion of Iraq. Such as Saddam not allowing his team to go into certain areas at certain times. Getting blocked access to certain sites all together."
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This is completely, 100%, untrue.
And I'm curious, why do you assert this?
Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, both of them, on many, many occasions, in real-time, as it happened, from day-one, asserted, they had unfettered access, anywhere, any time, that the Iraqis were very helpful, opened the doors promptly, answered their questions, and such, at every site they visited, all of them without notice, except (as Mohamed ElBaradei explained), where the IAEA needed a crane on-site to reach IAEA air-samplers.
All documented here:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jksonc/docs/iraq-wmd-timeline-2002-2003.html
So what you are doing, is conflating the 1990's experience with the new inspection regime of 2002-2003, under S/Res/1441.
What happened in the 1990s had nothing, whatsoever, to do with those new inspections, and Iraqi's agreement, which they complied with 100%, to allow Blix/ElBaradei a completely free hand.
Iraq did that, because of the military threat, but also Blix/ElBaradei were trustworthy, not the nest of CIA/NSA spies and covert operators, using the corrupt UNSCOM inspection regime, under Richard Butler, for surveillance and to construct a bombing encyclopedia database. -CJ
I wouldn't call Hans Blix informing Saddam where he was going ahead of time "unfettered access, anywhere, anytime" I've been busy all day catching up on stuff at work due to the holidays, but when I finally get a free moment, I'll gladly post my sources. :) But other then this one statement, can I safely assume that you agree with the rest of my assertions?
Travis
I apologize for my tardiness in replying to your post. I have read many parts of your page and find a few things odd. For example, Hans Blix states "If the Iraqis gave us full cooperation, we wouldn’t need any intelligence" Wouldn't that imply that he's not getting the cooperation that he needs?
On the flip side of things, he then states "Hans Blix: Mr ElBaradei and I have briefed the Council. And, for my part, I said, that we still get prompt access from the Iraqi side; that the inspections are covering every wider areas, and ever more sites, in Iraq; that in the course of these inspections we have not found any smoking gun.
Mohamed ElBaradei: We are getting access to all the sites ...
We need more actionable information.
On the part of the governments ...
We believe, at this stage, that these aluminum tubes were intended for manufacturing of rockets.
So at this point, they believe that the aluminum tubes that were found were intended to manufacture rockets that were now allowed?
Saddam was playing a dangerous game of seeing what he could get away with. He had done so for many years and thought he could get away with it again.
Saddam's problem is that he denied inspectors many times and you may be right, Hans Blix may have had free access to all the sites he visited. I may be wrong in this case. However, What makes Hans Blix completely trustworthy but other inspectors not? Why is Hans Blix's word gospel? I believe that Saddam had ordered his WMD programs to become mobile and/or buried underground. By the time it was perfected, he allowed inspectors back into the country because of the threat of force by the US. You have to understand that Iraq is the size of California. It would be difficult to find anything if buried properly. There were many months building up to the invasion. That gave Saddam plenty of time to hide or move any weapons he did have. There's even claims by Georges Sada that Saddam indeed had WMD's and trasported them to Syria.
Travis
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