Iraq has apparently snookered Bush by this ploy.

[b]Now Bush has no option but to defer to the UN.

Smart.

VERY smart move for Saddam![/b]


[url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25855-2002Sep16.html]Iraq to Accept Weapons Inspectors[/url]

[:(]

Raise your hand if you didn't see this coming.

(It won't be the last delaying tactic either)

I agree, it's a ploy.

But it will buy him a few more months. Enough time to finish his Nuke and hide it. It also pushes back our window of invasion.

Invading Iraq is best done in the winter, if he can stall for even a few more months, that makes  the inevitable desert invasion just a bit harder and hotter for our troops.

But like you said, it's a ploy.

Newman!!!


Won't last.  He'll play hide the ball for awhile.  The inspectors will get snookered but know that they aren't getting to see all they should.  

It's merely a ploy to give him more time.  

This proves my theory.  Saddam is not crazy.  He wants to stay in power and will do anything toward that end until he has nukes.  That in of itself will then keep him in power for fear that he will use them.  

You see, once he gets them, it's too costly to invade.  If he thinks his goose is cooked anyway, he'll light up the desert, Israel, or anyone/where else to try and stay in power.  

We should have never made a plea to the UN.  We are locked into the cat and mouse game again.

We should have stood on the original cease-fire agreement and invaded and otherthrown on the premise that it's been 4 years of non-compliance and that he's had his chance.  

Hopefully, something will quickly arise that will constitute grounds for violation of this round of inspections.  We should not/dare not hesitate then.  No asking for permission after that.  

I disagree I think Saddam has out smarted himself. If he does take unfettered inspections Bush wins because Saddam has caved to US pressure: but if he does not (as I suspect will happen this is just a stall) the US will have a green light to do what it wishes. I don’t think he will get months I believe the UN security counsel will pass a new resolution within the next 2 weeks that OK’s military actions if Iraq does not meet pass commitments and allows unfettered access for inspections and this move by Iraq today makes passage of that resolution more likely.

Yeah, it gives him a few extra months to try an prepare for our inevitable attack. He won't win this time just like he didn't last time.... but it allows hime to prepare to take as many of our boys and girls with him as he can. He'll go down.... but it'll be a fight to the last man. Like someone else said. He's too proud to just go quietly.

his good buddy clinton probably called him up and asked him to buy some time for the demoncrats

It will not even buy Saddam two weeks,  This inspectors thing will fall apart quick, I'll be surprised if it lasts much past the Sunday  political talk shows this week.

This is not really a big shock, Rice, Cheney and Powell will lay out the conditions for the inspections, Iraq will object, and that will be that.

It would be really sweet if we could just fly into Iraq's western desert SCUD box for some pre war Seek and destroy...(Whoops I meant inspections.) looking for his SCUD Launchers.

For once the little blue flags on the side of the helicopters might be useful, but I doubt it will get that far.

More likely Saddam will try to tell the U.N. that there cannot be American inspectors, and that will be the end of that idea.

Mac,
That is the exact heading I was thinking about...Iraq blinks. So did Saudi Arabia.

There is no way Saddam will let them in...he's trying to play the "game".


[b][blue]NAKED[/blue][/b]

Go back & carefully read the text of Bush's U.N. speech. Inspectors are not the only demand that has been put on Iraq.

The fat lady ain't sung yet, fellas.

Yes, but Saddam will never allow truly open and unfettered inspections.    

The trick is this:
He's real good at making it seem like the inspection is open, but guaranteed he's got stuff hidden (especially after 4 years to do it in) in places no one will even think to look.

He'll initially appear open.  Then he'll declare something off limits, then UN and U.S. will make war noises, then at last minute he'll allow inspections.  All the while knowing the place he limited contained nothing in the first place.  

He's using our will to follow the "rule of law" against us.  He's using guerilla tactics on his home turf.  He only has to bait and switch us long enough to put together one device.  After that, he's in driver's seat.

It will intially look like a victory for Bush and the UN resolution, but he's playing the game better than we are because he can make up his own rules while we try to make the UN and the rest of the world happy.    

Magnum,

I see your point, but I think Saddam is in a box. I do not think he will allow unfettered inspection and we will know that within days.

I think last week George Bush put Saddam in a cage he can’t get out of. The inspectors will ask for access to something right off the bat that Iraq will not allow and the games up, or Iraq will start laying conditions and the game up. Last week the President removed Iraq’s wiggle room.

The President set the ground rules last week either we have compliance or else, even if the UN does not go along. He will get a resolution authorizing force with 2 weeks if Iraq does not comply. The key here is Bush made it clear to the world we would go alone if necessary, and the UN believes him.

President Houssein, please bend over. This is Dr. Bananna-fingers. He has the largest fingers of any man on the planet and he will be conducting your anal exam to make sure you are not hiding nuclear weapons up your ass. Oh, buy the way, this geiger counter will have to be perminently inserted into your rectum to detect any radioactivity. Just remember this is for your own safety.

I say search every damn inch of that country, then XXXX'em.

Likely. It doesn't matter what Iraq does now, war is inevitable. [xx(]

I guess my point relies on Saddam's ability to keep the wool pulled over our eyes and the US/UN's willingness to continue to give him wiggle room.  

My thought is that he's had four years of wiggle room.  We know the UN wants to avoid conflict (for its own selfish reasons) so they will be inclined to take measured steps.  The US will have to continue to apply pressure (remember, constant pressure stops the bleeding!) to say enough is enough and not allow even a hint of subterfuge to go unpunished.  

I just don't like that we continue to go through this cat and mouse BS with this asswipe.  It's so obvious that he's milking it for all it's worth.  

TAKE OUT THE TRASH ALREADY!!!

Heck, nobody but Koffi Annan has seen the Iraqi letter yet, Not The U.N. security counsel, Not the White house, NOBODY.

Now call me silly, but I do not really trust Koffi Annan any farther than I can throw him.

Why is it that every third word U.N. Secretary General thinks he's Ghandi once he gets the job.

I personally think, that there are all kinds of conditions tacked on to the Iraqi letter, That Koffi, just Kinda, Sorta forgot to tell the press about in the "Peace in our time" press conference he just gave to the press.

Inspections are a farce!  I DO HOPE that the inspectors gather useful intell, however.  Further, I think Bush needs to ignore the UN.  They are just a tool of our enemies.

Sadly, the democrats won a round here.  Surely will hurt at election time vs results had the war already been raging.  Damn!

Iraq is a big country, plenty of places to hide the facilities.  All that Iraq needs is fissionable U-235, and centrifuges to extract it are the size of washing machines.

It was stupid to listen to the critics.  It's insane to leave this in the hands of UN which is on Iraq's side solely to spite the US.  This is utter bullshit.

[url]http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/751873/posts[/url]
Text of the "conditions" for the "unconditional inspections"

washingtonpost.com
Text of White House Response to Iraq



The Associated Press
Monday, September 16, 2002; 8:23 PM

The text of a statement by the White House in response to Iraq's offer for the unconditional return of weapons inspectors:

As the president said, the U.N. Security Council needs to decide how to enforce its own resolutions, which the Iraqi regime has defied for more than a decade.

This will require a new, effective U.N. Security Council resolution that will actually deal with the threat Saddam Hussein poses to the Iraqi people, to the region, and to the world. That is the course the Security Council is on, and the United States is engaged in consultations with Council members and other partners in New York at this time.

This is not a matter of inspections. It is about disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and the Iraqi regime's compliance with all other Security Council resolutions.

This is a tactical step by Iraq in hopes of avoiding strong U.N. Security Council action. As such, it is a tactic that will fail.

It is time for the Security Council to act.


© 2002 The Associated Press

Damn.  It's going to happen.  We're going in, and nothing's going to stop us.

Well drop your linen and start your grinnin'!!

[rocket]

[frag]

[heavy]


[bounce]

What makes you so happy about going to war?  The inevitable casualties on both sides?  The fun toys we'll get to try out?

Statements like yours make me think that the US propoganda machine is doing its job too well.

Actually it's the fact that we get to bomb their military BEFORE they get to bomb our civilians (some more).

And it's statements like yours that make me think the propaganda machine from the suicidally liberal passivists at Berkeley are doing their job too well too. [:P]

You make this statement and yet your sig line reads...[red]"I am denied the sacrament of Holy Combat on a daily basis."[/red]
hmmmm....[>:/]

The end result.
Peace.

Find the H-bomb, everybody plays everybody wins, be quick follow the H-bomb...
[url]http://www.karzen.com/images/late1/Images/Previews/Preview1.jpg[/url]
Same crap as after the Gulf War, just keep moving the goods and the blue helmets never find them...

Your apparent desire for a conflict would suggest to me that you are volunteering to lead any attack we make on Iraq?  In the infantry no less?  Well congrats.  Otherwise, start using your brain, and figure out that we are going to have dead bodies of US Soldiers getting sent back to the states.  That is what you are so desperate to have happen.  I'm sure once it starts happening, you'll be among those "supporting our troops" and weeping for the families.  That's a crock of shit, quite frankly.  Start supporting your troops NOW and don't encourage them to start getting killed any sooner than necessary.  

Oh, and Iraq has not bombed America, btw.  They potentially could have supported terrorist organizations that would have done so, however.  I haven't yet seen proof where they did so, but I have a pretty strong feeling they did.  

Happy Blaster, which end result?  Peace is most likely NOT the end result in this case.  What kind of peace will Iraq have?  Iraq is screwed if we go in after Saddam.  What happens once he's gone?  Democratic elections?  Peace keeping missions to prop up their government for the next 5 years?  By going over there and bombing the shit out of what's left of their country, and invading them again we will start a new generation of American hating arab-muslims.  In addition it will further strengthen the resolve of the borderline people in many countries of the middle east, and make the terrorists more bold in their moves.  Wait another 5-10 years and watch more of the American Haters coming of age and start trying more and more for our destruction.  You ask for a peace that is peace in name, and temporary only.  

Spectre, I hear senses of humor are on sale at Wal-Mart, two for $5.  Get two, since when you finish reading my post you'll have lost the first one.  

Ah yes... the "bodybag" distractor. [rolleyes]

That brainless liberal appeal to emotion didn't work in the Gulf War, didn't work in Afghanistan, and isn't working now.

So [b]Professor[/b], what's your "peaceful" solution to Iraq, and to all terrorist states in general?



How THE FUCK do YOU know when it is "necessary"??

I assume that the Commander-in-Chief has a bit more information regarding Iraq than you [b]Professor[/b].

But if you have some super-secret insight into the REAL NBC threat posed by Iraq, please... let's see it.

And THAT is reason enough to retaliate ASAP.

BEFORE Iraq can supply their terrorist stooges with NBC weapons and deliver them to Times Square or the steps of the Capitol.
 

[b]Quoted:
Spectre, I hear senses of humor are on sale at Wal-Mart, two for $5. Get two, since when you finish reading my post you'll have lost the first one. [/b]

Professor, I refuse to support wal-mart and will not waste $5 on cheap chi-com senses of humor. I buy my AMERICAN MADE sense of humor in bulk and buy ammo with the savings. [:D]
I would think YOU of all people would know my sense of humor, but alas, it would appear that you bought that "two for $5" deal on cheap substandard commie senses of humor and as usual, you get what you pay for.