Alkurta

Preach on E6hotel, I also agree, the greater good has been served.

When the Shiites rose up in the south and the Kurds rose up in the north, it was a dark day for America when we didn't support them. Unfortunately, if I remember correctly, realpolitik intervened. The Kurds would have caused trouble for our ally Turkey. The Shiites in the south might have linked up with Iran and made even stronger. Hopefully, things will be set right for the people of Iraq. On a slightly different topic, I heard a wild theory as to why Saddam acted the way he did before the war if he didn't have any WMD: Perhaps he was lied to by his underlings at to their progress. For whatever reason, either the scientist couldn't or wouldn't produce the weapons, but lied to their bosses as to their progress. It sounds fantastic and I doubt if it is true, but I thought I would add this to our discussion.

If I remember my chemistry class correctly, uranium hexafloride is a gas. The heavier U238 isotopes can be separated from the fissile U235 either through a centrifuge, which saddam had, or through another process whose name I forget, so it can be enriched. The uranium used in armor piercing shells uses depleted uranium. This is the non-radioactive, stable, U238 isotope. There is a tiny amount of the radioactive U235 mixed in, but I would think it would just be easier to mine it since Uranium ore in the ground is naturally about 10% U235. Are there any Uranium miners or Nuclear Physicist out there who can back me up?

How do you use uranium in construction? And do you need to use barrels and barrels of it for medical research? I may be wrong on this last part, but didn't Saddam stop cooperating with the IAEA?

That is a fallacy know as Ad Hoc reasoning. Just because one event preceded a second event does not mean the 1st event caused the 2nd event. Now, a more plausible chain of events is this: The twin towers were attacked by terrorists. A government that was very friendly to the terrorists was removed. Next, another bad apple in the middle east with a penchant for trouble making and WMD research is not cooperating with U.N. mandates. The bad apple was removed. Now, since the troops in Saudi Arabia were there to keep an eye on the aforementioned bad apple and to deter him, and he is no longer there to cause trouble, they are no longer needed in Saudi Arabia.

That is a fallacy know as Ad Hoc reasoning. Just because one event preceded a second event does not mean the 1st event caused the 2nd event. Now, a more plausible chain of events is this: The twin towers were attacked by terrorists. A government that was very friendly to the terrorists was removed. Next, another bad apple in the middle east with a penchant for trouble making and WMD research is not cooperating with U.N. mandates. The bad apple was removed. Now, since the troops in Saudi Arabia were there to keep an eye on the aforementioned bad apple and to deter him, and he is no longer there to cause trouble, they are no longer needed in Saudi Arabia.

I believe we didn't know where this stuff was stored at and the looters got there before we could. But the presence of Uranium Oxide brings up and important question: In a country that has NO nuclear reactors, either for power generation or for medical research, what was Saddam doing with barrel upon barrel of Uranium? It has no other use than either power generation or the making of nuclear weapons. Once again, Saddam had refused to abide by the ceasefire terms of Gulf War 1.0 and the U.N. resolutions.

Dude... Why else would you put fermentation tanks and other bio medical research equipment on the back of an 18 wheeler? You can't do much work while the thing is moving. You test tubes and whatnot would bounce around too much. You put your lab on an 18 wheeler to it can be moved around with ease so the UN inspectors can't find it. We may not have the Good Housekeeping Seal of "Official WMD Research Equipment" on it yet. But I have heard no other plausible or implausible reason for the mobile bio lab.

I admit that it would be nice to find an arsenal chock full of chemical warheads. In the meantime, I am satisfied with the 2 mobile bioweapons labs that have been discovered. They can have only one plausible function: to make bioweapons while evading UN inspectors. That is a violation of the Cease Fire terms of the first Gulf War and of the many, many UN resolutions. Saddam Hussein had no intention of honoring or complying with anything unless he got caught. His strategy was "Cheat and Retreat". In the era of WMD, we can't wait for the other guy to strike first. I am content to let history judge us.