Re: "smoked salmon socialists"

"Jeffraham Prestonian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> "Rubystars" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>
> > Bullshit. Saddam posed a direct threat to his neighbors, he financed
> > terrorists in the region, and that is a direct threat to our interests
as
> > well. He was working on a nuclear program several times in the past and
he
> > was going to do it again, that was a direct threat to us.
>
> That's why, just two years prior to the invasion,
> Colin Powell was telling Egyptian press:
>
<snip>
>So in effect, our policies
> have strengthened the security of the neighbors of
> Iraq, and these are policies that we are going to keep
> in place, but we are ALWAYS WILLING TO REVIEW them to
> make sure that they are being carried out in a way
> that does not affect the Iraqi people but does affect
> the Iraqi regime's ambitions and the ability to acquire
> weapons of mass destruction, and we had a good
> conversation on this issue."
> --Secretary of State Colin Powell, 02/24/2001

Two points I'd like to make, the first of them is what I highlighted. Powell
seemed to think that the sanctions alone were working at that time, but he
left open
the possibility that the policy could change if it was perceived not to be
working later
on.

Secondly, that was 2/24/01. That was far in advance of 9/11/01. The sense of
urgency was much increased after that. We could no longer safely pursue a
policy
of containing these tyrants, but we had to take a more active role to be
effective.

Colin Powell seems to have understood that.

-Rubystars