Hi Teribus,

Again thanks for your response.

Hello Frank to continue our discussion:

It is conjecture to suggest the UN would have done nothing to bring inspectors in. If the Bush Administration had shown less beligerence and more statesmanship and diplomacy, the inspections might have been facilitated faster. Again, this is all under the presumption that we know the answer. We don't.

1. The weapons inspection was a joint decision by member of the UN. The Bush Administration is now in the position of sabotaging this decision.

2. The disarmament is taking place gradually. Not all at once but Saddam is consierably weakened by the process and so I would have to disagree that nothing was done. What wasn't done was to follow an arbitrary and narrow decision handed down by the Bush Adminstration and for this I can see why the UN is reluctant to follow it.

3. In order to address the problem of Iraqi rights abuses we have to consider who are the parties to the abues. At present, the Iraqi people are being abused by sanctions and bombing which is going on right now regardless of the propaganda that we get from the state department that we are not at war yet.

It suits the Bush Adminstration to plan for a post war Iraq that is amenable to allowing certain US firms to rebuild it such as the one Cheney is involved with. Also, the conquerors hold the oil leases. France, China and Russia may not like that.

"Indeed, the US has not forced the UN into going to war - nor have they ever tried to."

This is indeed incorrect. They are trying to now. They want UN involvment in supporting Mr. Bush's war.

The truth is that even if Saddam should completely disarm, Bush
has painted himself into a corner. If he doesn't avenge his father's assailant, he will be perceived as weak by his constituency. He has gambled that his credibility lies in going to war.

The Bush Administration is attempting to block the UN decisions regarding the inspections.

The "Desert Fox" has not prevented Saddam from inflicting genocide of Iraqis today. The Kurdish have more to fear from Turkish occupation now then they do Saddam.

Many things are generally accepted that are incorrect because of their propaganda value. As we know from the logical fallacies of argument, there is a term for that which is generally accepted and assumed to be true when in fact it might be the opposite.

I'll have to respond to the rest of your statements later.

Cordially,

Frank Hamilton