The Iraq thread 3

[bn880 5]

That's right Bals. And check out the cool QUotes page BBC has made http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3054991.stm

[Balschoiw 0]

Uprise in the UK !

Hutton report flawed.

Potesters halt Blair speech !

The clock is ticking.

BBC's former director general Greg Dyke has released a public letter to Blair.

[Acecombat 0]

Woo things are hotting up i suppose

Go BBC

[walker 0]

Hi all

I dont know if you missed this but the leader of the oposition has called on the Tony Blair to resign.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3460771.stm

This along with Tennet saying Sadam was not an immediate threat and he has the doccuments to prove it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3462847.stm

The pressure on TBA an TBA2 is increasing and the cracks are starting to show:

Because of what Tennet said; George Bush made emergency changes to his South Carolina speech today and looked beleagured and tired making it.

During questions in the Commons defence committee on Thursday morning, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon was flustered and even shouted. Members of the commitee were very angry at the Chairman stoping them from putting questions to him on aspects of the Iraq War.

The Primeminister's office is said to be furious at George Bush Jnr. and TBA for dropping them in it with their inquiry; which forced TBA2 to have an enquiry as well. "Being Hung out to dry", like that has lead some to threaten to Drop George Bush and TBA in the pooh for doing it to them. Already some have been mentioning Donald Rumsfeld in the commitee rooms and bars it apears they have some dirt on him they are going to air.

Many in the UK Labour party already blame the special relationship and TBA for duping the UK into a senseless war.

When "political friends" fall out it tends to be very bloody and the fireworks have already begun.

For TBA and TBA2 times just got "interesting" (in the Chinese  sense of the word)

I wonder what will happen next? Walker

[denoir 0]

One noticable thing about the Tenet speech was that he claimed that CIA was right about Iraq having missiles beyond the allowed range. This yet another half-lie aimed at those having a long term memory like a gold-fish.

The missiles in question were discussed already by Blix and the Iraqis. The Iraqis claimed that range was a matter of guidance system while UNMOVIC demanded that it should be a question of propellant. After a very short debate, the Iraqis budged and started destroying the Al-Samoud missiles [ src ].

The missiles was nothing that the CIA or the ISG 'discovered'. Iraq had come clean about them and was in the middle of the process of dismantling them under UN supervision when the US invaded.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

I would like to read more about that. ANy source?

Quote[/b] ]The missiles in question were discussed already by Blix and the Iraqis. The Iraqis claimed that range was a matter of guidance system while UNMOVIC demanded that it should be a question of propellant

[Balschoiw 0]

Al samoud technical review:

Samoud reviewed by NTI

UN confirms destruction of Al Samoud 2 missiles:

Fox news link

[Balschoiw 0]

Kay queries White House war talks

Quote[/b] ]The White House may have ignored some aspects of intelligence on Iraq in the run-up to war, former chief US weapons inspector David Kay has suggested.

[bn880 5]

Hmm, well apparently there are some job positions now in Iraq at around 100K USD per year. Simple work like laundry and air conditioning installation, but don't send your resume just yet all contracts are handled through Haliburton, and most employees are taken from Texas.

lol

Wait a second, Bush is winning this war.

[bn880 5]

Following up on the Pakistan (handwashing) issue, Kofi Annan finds it odd that Pakistan pardons it's top scientists for leaking Nuclear secrets. Annan for world leader!

EDIT: a linker le story

[Balschoiw 0]

Kofi Annan :

Annan: Intel Woes Affect U.S. Credibility

Quote[/b] ]U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says he believes questions about U.S. intelligence on Iraq will make people "very suspicious" about future claims. Secretary of State Colin Powell disagrees.

Powell disagreed ?

Quote[/b] ]Powell strongly defended U.S. intelligence, saying Saddam had every intention of keeping Iraq's weapons programs going "and anyone who thinks he didn't is just dead wrong."

"There is no evidence to suggest this was an incorrect judgment," he insisted.

So let me get this right. Powell says there is no evidence to suggest it was an incorrect judgement ?!?

I´m still waiting for the evidence that it WAS a correct judgement. Man this White house soap is really not going to raise the TBA credibility.

[bn880 5]

I know why Powell wants to please Bush so much

http://www.funsnap.com/1/bushgirl.swf

[JP226 0]

since you guys like to do nothing but bash Bush. Which Bush represents the American will or atleast 2/3rds of the public which pretty much is most Americans. I thought maybe i could change the tone a little and pick on another country, France. Here are some humorous quotes from some fairly major figures of the years, decades and in some cases centuries.

Here goes:

"France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these

drawbacks it is a fine country. France has usually been governed by

prostitutes."

---Mark Twain

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one

behind me."

--- General George S. Patton

"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your

accordion."

--- Norman Schwartzkopf

"We can stand here like the French, or we can do something about it."

---- Marge Simpson

"As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure"

--- Jacques Chirac, President of France

"As far as France is concerned, you're right."

--- Rush Limbaugh,

"The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army is

sitting in Paris sipping coffee."

--- Regis Philbin

"The French are a smallish, monkey-looking bunch and not dressed any better,

on average, than the citizens of Baltimore. True, you can sit outside in

Paris and drink little cups of coffee, but why this is more stylish than

sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whiskey I don't know."

--- P.J O'Rourke (1989)

"You know, the French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the

1940s who was still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't have the

face for it."

--- John McCain, U.S. Senator from Arizona

"You know why the French don't want to bomb Saddam Hussein? Because he hates

America, he loves mistresses and wears a beret. He is French, people."

--Conan O'Brien

"I don't know why people are surprised that France won't help us get Saddam

out of Iraq. After all, France wouldn't help us get the Germans out of

France!"

--- Jay Leno

"The last time the French asked for 'more proof' it came marching into Paris

under a German flag."

--- David Letterman

How many Frenchmen does it take to change a light bulb?

- One. He holds the bulb and all of Europe revolves around him.

Next time there's a war in Europe, the loser has to keep France.

In 1966 upon being told that Charles DeGaulle had taken France out of NATO

and that all U. S. Troops must be evacuated off of French soil, President

Lyndon Johnson told Secretary of State Dean Rusk: "Ask him about the

cemeteries Dean!"

So at end of the meeting, Dean did ask DeGaulle if his order to remove all

U. S. troops from French soil also included the 60,000+ soldiers buried in

France from World War I and World War II.

DeGaulle never answered.

The Complete Military History of France

- Gallic Wars - Lost. In a war whose ending foreshadows the next 2000 years

of French history, France is conquered by of all things, an Italian.

- Hundred Years War - Mostly lost, saved at last moment by schizophrenic

teenaged girl, who inadvertently creates The First Rule of French Warfare;

"France's armies are victorious only when not led by a Frenchman."

- Italian Wars - Lost. France becomes the first and only country to ever

lose two wars when fighting Italians.

- Wars of Religion -France goes 0-5-4 against the Huguenots

- Thirty Years War - France is technically not a participant, but manages to

get invaded anyway. Claims a tie on the basis that eventually the other

participants started ignoring her.

- War of Devolution - Tied. Frenchmen take to wearing red flowerpots as

chapeaux.

- The Dutch War - Tied

- War of the Augsburg League/King William's War/French and Indian War -

Lost, but claimed as a tie. Three ties in a row induces deluded Frogophiles

the world over to label the period as the height of French military power.

- War of the Spanish Succession - Lost. The War also gave the French their

first taste of a Marlborough, which they have loved every since.

- American Revolution - In a move that will become quite familiar to future

Americans, France claims a win even though the English colonists saw far

more action. This is later known as "de Gaulle Syndrome", and leads to the

Second Rule of French Warfare; "France only wins when America does most of

the fighting."

- French Revolution - Won, primarily due the fact that the opponent was also

French.

- The Napoleonic Wars - Lost. Temporary victories (remember the First Rule!)

due to leadership of a Corsican, who ended up being no match for a British

footwear designer.

- The Franco-Prussian War - Lost. Germany plays the role of drunk Frat boy

to France's ugly girl home alone on a Saturday night.

- World War I - Tied and on the way to losing, France is saved by the United

States. Thousands of French women find out what it's like to not only sleep

with a winner, but one who doesn't call her "Fraulein." Sadly, widespread

use of condoms by American forces forestalls any improvement in the French

bloodline.

- World War II - Lost. Conquered French liberated by the United States and

Britain just as they finish learning the Horst Wessel Song.

- War in Indochina - Lost. French forces plead sickness, take to bed with

the Dien Bien Flu

- Algerian Rebellion - Lost. Loss marks the first defeat of a western army

by a Non-Turkic Muslim force since the Crusades, and produces the First Rule

of Muslim Warfare; "We can always beat the French." This rule is identical

to the First Rules of the Italians, Russians, Germans, English, Dutch,

Spanish, Vietnamese and Esquimaux.

- War on Terrorism - France, keeping in mind its recent history, surrenders

to Germans and Muslims just to be safe. Attempts to surrender to Vietnamese

ambassador fail after he takes refuge in a McDonald's.

[brgnorway 0]

I think you should be banned!

You obviously have no clue about what is considered propper debate. Instead you try to humiliate a whole nation which in my - and a whole lot of others opinion - have the nerve to represent it's own will instead of being a lapdog.

[JP226 0]

you are right, and I was wrong. I shouldn't have followed anyone's examples:

bn880

O=FP^2

Group: VIP

Posts: 4792

Joined: Nov. 2001 Posted: Feb. 08 2004,03:56

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I know why Powell wants to please Bush so much

http://www.funsnap.com/1/bushgirl.swf

[ralphwiggum 6]

ok, you've had enough warnings, especially not to drive offtopic. you are post restricted for 24hrs.

[toadeater 0]

since you guys like to do nothing but bash Bush. Which Bush represents the American will or atleast 2/3rds of the public which pretty much is most Americans.

Would you like to tell us where you got those figures from? Mine show only crooks from Texas and religious fanatics support him.

[theavonlady 2]

Mine show only crooks from Texas and religious fanatics support him.

Would you like to tell us where you got these figures from?

Mine show:

Quote[/b] ]Bush's approval dipped from 64 percent right after Bush's Jan. 20 State of the Union address to 54 percent in the late-January period. An AP-Ipsos poll found Bush's approval dipped 9 points during January to the high 40s, the same finding as several other polls released at about that time.

From this Feb. 7 AP article: Poll: Bush Slip Began After Weapons News.

[EiZei 0]

since you guys like to do nothing but bash Bush. Which Bush represents the American will or atleast 2/3rds of the public which pretty much is most Americans. I thought maybe i could change the tone a little and pick on another country, France. Here are some humorous quotes from some fairly major figures of the years, decades and in some cases centuries.

Let me ask you a question, what the hell does this got to do with Iraq?

Many other nations opposed or decided to skip the war. Why do you insist on such childish argumentation?

[theavonlady 2]

Let me ask you a question

It's like talking to the wall:

you are post restricted for 24hrs.

[EiZei 0]

Let me ask you a question

It's like talking to the wall:

you are post restricted for 24hrs.

Well, I was too infuriated to read further, but im sure JP226 will be anxious to reply to my post after he gets off his mandatory holiday.

EDIT: JP226, not 266

[Balschoiw 0]

I´m no big fan of polls. But JP226 does not seem to have to actual numbers:

Quote[/b] ]AP Poll Notes Decline in Support for Bush

By The Associated Press

Friday 06 February 2004

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's public support dropped sharply over the past month, especially among older voters, political independents and people in the Midwest, an Associated Press poll found.

And for the first time, more voters in this poll's two years of tracking the question said they would definitely vote against Bush than said they would definitely vote for him.

Bush's approval rating stood at 47 percent in the AP-Ipsos poll taken in early February, down from 56 percent approval just a month ago. Half, or 50 percent, said they disapproved in the latest poll.

No majority anymore. In fact not even half of the US people support him anymore.

For the rest of JP226 totally unrelated and totally flaming post:

Grow up !

[bn880 5]

Indeed, I know of the same numbers / polls as Balschoiw posted. Certainly not 2/3rds of Americans supporting Bush now. I am looking forward to Bush being thrown out of office sort of speak.

[denoir 0]

Blix doubts on Iraq intelligence [bBC]

Quote[/b] ]

Former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix has said Britain and the US dramatised intelligence information to bolster the argument for the Iraq war.

He told the BBC those who drafted the UK's Iraqi arms dossier acted like salesmen trying to "exaggerate the importance" of their wares.

He told Breakfast with Frost he did not think Tony Blair acted in "bad faith".

But he said citizens in the West expected "a bit more sincerity" from their leaders and politicians. Both the US and UK governments have announced inquiries into the accuracy of intelligence reports.

'Spin'

Mr Blix said British and American intelligence officials had placed too much weight on what Iraqi defectors told them. He also blamed "spin" which both governments put on the intelligence for the mistake.

"It was to do with information management. The intention was to dramatise it," he said.

He challenged the UK and US to produce the evidence of weapons programmes they claim to have uncovered.

He added: "Is there clear evidence that there were programmes? Maybe so, I don't deny the possibility."

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy told the programme the prime minister must make a formal statement setting out what he and his ministers knew about Iraq's weapons.

'Mess of contradiction'

Tony Blair said last week he did not know the so-called "45-minute claim" only referred to Iraq's battlefield weapons. But Mr Kennedy said the "mess of contradiction" from the government must be clarified.

He said: "The important thing now is that we do resolve the political judgement at the time... We were able to do that with the Falklands conflict, why can't we do it with Iraq?"

But Mr Kennedy said Tory calls for Tony Blair to resign over the issue were a "distraction". Former foreign secretary Robin Cook told the BBC Tony Blair's intelligence advisors should step down if it was shown that the prime minister was not told about the nature of the Iraqi missile threat.

Mr Cook said the Joint Intelligence Committee had a duty to explain fully the situation in assessments it sent to Downing Street.

Meanwhile, a former intelligence chief has said the Iraqi arms dossier should have been written "exclusively" by experts without any interference from Downing Street. Sir Paul Lever, former chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, said the publication was "sloppy" in places, adding that things would have been done differently if he had been in charge.

"I personally would have preferred to have the JIC present something drafted exclusively by the JIC in the format which the JIC itself chose," he told Sky's Sunday with Adam Boulton.

Hutton

Sir Paul said the claim that weapons could be deployed within 45 minutes had been "over-emphasised" in the UK dossier on Iraq's weapons. But Lords leader Baroness Amos has argued against calls for a confidence vote in the prime minister, insisting it was not necessary for him to go before the House.

She also rejected claims that the government "dramatised" intelligence on Iraq, saying Lord Hutton's report had cleared the government on the issue. It has also emerged that Tony Blair has offered to meet the widow of Iraq arms expert Dr David Kelly.

But Janice Kelly, 58, has not yet responded to his overture, according the Sunday Telegraph.

The Kelly family blames the government for outing him as a BBC source.

[bn880 5]

you are right, and I was wrong. I shouldn't have followed anyone's examples:

bn880

O=FP^2

Group: VIP

Posts: 4792

Joined: Nov. 2001 Posted: Feb. 08 2004,03:56

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I know why Powell wants to please Bush so much

http://www.funsnap.com/1/bushgirl.swf

Your accusation is unfounded. Bashing france is unlike posting a new comic of Bush who is directly responsible for thousands of people killed. In addition V.I.P. status was not given to me for offtopic behaviour, you should check up on this. Looking at someones post count is also not a sign of great behaviour, so I suggest you behave according to moderators rules, not any example you think is bad.