The Daily Radar
Friday, 23 June 2006 | 146 readers so far
WMD’S found in Iraq…lots of them
Now a new report from the Pentagon sheds some light on just how many WMDs have been found, and it’s a lot. We’re not just talking an old Sarin shell here and there. No less than 500 chemical weapons have been found since 2003, according to a recently declassified defense department intelligence report. The weapons are of the mustard gas and Sarin nerve gas variety…nasty stuff.
Of jihad networks and the war of ideas
Dutch intel experts give a disturbing picture of jihadist activity. Experts on Islamic extremism from the Dutch intelligence service came to Washington in early June, giving a series of closed-door briefings that offered a disturbing portrait of jihadist activity in Europe generally and in the Netherlands particularly. Since the 2004 Amsterdam murder of film director Theo van Gogh by a jihadist, Dutch intelligence has focused aggressively on Islamic radicalism, and its analysts have produced some of the best work on jihadist networks on the Continent, say terrorism experts.
WAR: Another Domino: Democracy in Kuwait & UAE
Next week, Kuwaitis will go to the polls to elect a new National Assembly which will, in turn, approve a new prime minister and cabinet. The Kuwaitis will be making history for a number of reasons. This is the first election in which women are allowed to vote, which means the size of the electorate has more than doubled. More importantly, and much to the chagrin of Islamists who insist that women are unfit to play any role in politics, a number of women are standing, often on a platform of radial social and economic reform. With a native population of one million, Kuwait is one of the smallest states that form the Arab League.
Tech Gurus Say They’ll ‘Switch from Mac’
Playing on Apple’s past “Switch” ad campaign, which was aimed at getting Windows users to migrate to Apple’s Mac OS X-based computers, a few longtime Mac and open-source gurus are vocally publicizing their switch away from Apple’s platform to more open-source solutions.
With the publication of The Conservative Nanny State, and the upcoming midterm elections, I think it’s time to review the extent of the looting that has occured since the current batch of Republicans took control of the government.
Some looting, such as those described in The Conservative Nanny State, has taken place in the open. Other looting has been more discreet. But now, a new case comes to light: Dennis Hastert used his power to have the Federal government build a superhighway right next to his investment property–netting him $2 million.
Got an article you think should be in the Daily Radar? Go ahead and send it to me.
1 June 23rd, 2006 at 2:29 pm
Dale says:
Ice cubes are not icebergs. All of those WMD’s found were debunked by the Pentagon the next day. Old stuff, ineffective and degraded. It is almost pathetic that people are still trying to defend the WMD in Iraq myth. The President himself says intell was wrong, so does Cheney and Rumsfeld and Rice and the Congress of the United States and a special commission that the President himself sent to Iraq to find WMD’s but some people still feel obliged to defend the error; but our government got it wrong on WMD’s in Iraq.
No WMD in Iraq that threatened the USA. The administration was wrong. Perhaps one day the people, too, will believe it.
Saddam Husseins ‘genius’ was that he convinced the world that he was more dangerous than he really was. He is paying for that now.
2 June 23rd, 2006 at 5:47 pm
Trevor says:
Dale,
I won’t argue with you on this - you are correct. But the point is that there WERE WMDs. I don’t think anyone lied. The problem is that we didn’t know they were degraded and ineffective, or at least I have not seen evidence of that.
The Bush Administration wasn’t acting out of malice when it invaded, as far as I can tell.
3 June 23rd, 2006 at 9:02 pm
SK says:
BTW, watched one of the weapons inspectors who does say that the mustard gas is probably degraded for use as is. He stated that the sarin however, is a different story.
4 June 24th, 2006 at 12:59 am
Elizabeth says:
There’s a rumor going around that the U.S. has WMDs
5 June 24th, 2006 at 2:49 am
Shane says:
Dale: They’ve found WMD’s in Iraq and that’s a fact; not a myth. It’s ok to spin but dont lie.
Elizabeth: Right; we do have WMDs. It would be much easier to use them and just call it day too; but that’s the difference between America and Militant Islam.
6 June 24th, 2006 at 5:42 am
Elizabeth says:
Hmm. Shane, did you know that the U.S. has, in fact, used WMDs??
7 June 24th, 2006 at 7:20 am
Harley says:
There’s been some activity in the mountains northeast of Baghdad recently — across the border in Iran, in the Ararat mountains. A guy by the name of Bob Cornuke has some pretty interesting pictures.
Go to http://www.worldviewweekend.com
Harley
Charlotte, NC
8 June 24th, 2006 at 7:26 am
Harley says:
Trevor,
The web address above is incomplete. The story is down a screen or two under,
http://www.worldviewweekend.com/secure/cwnetwork/article.php?&ArticleID=813
Harley
9 June 24th, 2006 at 8:24 am
Trevor says:
The difference between the U.S. having WMDs and Iraq having WMDs is that the leaders of the U.S. (nominally) have to answer to the citizens of the U.S. In Iraq - not so much. Saddam just killed you if you talked naughty about him.
Dad,
Thanks for the link. I’ll go check it out. Hope you and mom are well. I told Stacy you’re still enjoying her blog.
10 June 24th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
Dale says:
Shane ,
Read my comment . I did not lie.
Ice cubes are not icebergs.
If you cannot point to a lie, then I wait for your apology.
11 June 24th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
Trevor says:
I don’t think Dale is much of a liar either Shane.
No WMD in Iraq that threatened the USA is probably correct, but that isn’t what the preponderence of the evidence pointed too from the various intelligence communities we had access too. Everyone with any credibility and many with no credibility were saying Saddam had the stuff. Everyone thought he would use it because he had before.
People have certainly been taken down for much less.
The ongoing debate is mostly about how you charecterize the actions taken in response to the available intelligence. No matter how you slice it getting rid of Saddam was a good thing, in my opinion. What is open for debate is whether or not what is happening now in Iraq is the correct course of action.
What’s wonderful is that we can have that debate at all. What’s bad is that people are dying daily over here. We can all second guess it all day as long as we stay the course. That’s the only crux point that really matters. When Iraq’s government asks us to leave, we leave. Not before.
12 June 24th, 2006 at 8:03 pm
Elizabeth says:
Trevor, you seem to be arguing that countries with democratic governments should be allowed to have WMDs whereas countries with non-democratic governments should not. Several points:
1. I’m pretty sure that is not what is said in international treaties that the U.S. has signed relating to nuclear and other mass destruction weapons.
2. If it were, who decides which country counts as a democracy?
3. Again, if we rewrote treaties to include a democracy standard, what then should be the punishment for non-democratic countries with WMDs, which include Pakistan and North Korea? Should we invade those countries also and overthrow their governments? We seem to be having some “challenges” dealing with our regime change scheme in Iraq…what would things be like if we applied the same standard to Pakistan and North Korea? Can the U.S. destroy and rebuild several countries at once?
13 June 25th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
Dale says:
Elizabeth, I did not interpret Trevor’s comments as you did. However, I agree with you.
Trevor, getting rid of Saddam has only helped his enemies to this point in time. If the enemy of my enemy is my friend, then we have helped our friends. The average citizen of Baghdad has it worse today.Changing course on Iraq is the only sane thing to do. Perhaps the new Iraqi government can make that happen.
Shane, did you have something to say ?