Well if trillions of dollars and US blood is nothing, then I suppose it hasn’t.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-says-us-foolishly-spent-7-trillion-in-the-middle-east/
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Reality says the CIA used flawed data and gave it to the Bush administration.
Key Judgments
Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs
Iraq has continued its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs in defiance of UN resolutions and restrictions. Baghdad has chemical and biological weapons as well as missiles with ranges in excess of UN restrictions; if left unchecked, it probably will have a nuclear weapon during this decade.
Baghdad hides large portions of Iraq’s WMD efforts. Revelations after the Gulf war starkly demonstrate the extensive efforts undertaken by Iraq to deny information.
Since inspections ended in 1998, Iraq has maintained its chemical weapons effort, energized its missile program, and invested more heavily in biological weapons; most analysts assess Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program.
- Iraq’s growing ability to sell oil illicitly increases Baghdad’s capabilities to finance WMD programs; annual earnings in cash and goods have more than quadrupled.
- Iraq largely has rebuilt missile and biological weapons facilities damaged during Operation Desert Fox and has expanded its chemical and biological infrastructure under the cover of civilian production.
- Baghdad has exceeded UN range limits of 150 km with its ballistic missiles and is working with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which allow for a more lethal means to deliver biological and, less likely, chemical warfare agents.
- Although Saddam probably does not yet have nuclear weapons or sufficient material to make any, he remains intent on acquiring them.
How quickly Iraq will obtain its first nuclear weapon depends on when it acquires sufficient weapons-grade fissile material.
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If Baghdad acquires sufficient weapons-grade fissile material from abroad, it could make a nuclear weapon within a year.
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Without such material from abroad, Iraq probably would not be able to make a weapon until the last half of the decade.
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Iraq’s aggressive attempts to obtain proscribed high-strength aluminum tubes are of significant concern. All intelligence experts agree that Iraq is seeking nuclear weapons and that these tubes could be used in a centrifuge enrichment program. Most intelligence specialists assess this to be the intended use, but some believe that these tubes are probably intended for conventional weapons programs.
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Based on tubes of the size Iraq is trying to acquire, a few tens of thousands of centrifuges would be capable of producing enough highly enriched uranium for a couple of weapons per year.
The ECB has just resumed QE and has zero to negative interest rates.
It appears to me that a) the massive asset-price collapse which occurred in 2008 is still being felt, and b) the heads of various banks have been mimicking the activities of the Japanese CB over the last 25 years … and expect something different to happen. I believe that Einstein called that the definition of lunacy.
I remember the last weeks before the invasion. Hans Blick was repeating that he had found nothing and was asking for more time. Saddam Hussein changed his attitude from “piss-off” to “why don’t you come and see for yourselves, I have nothing”. Bush and Blair were so revved-up I don’t believe anything could have stopped it at that point.
I read all your post, no disagreement with you there.
Well that’s precisely what the evidence shows. The Bush administration fixed the intelligence around the policy. The chief Weapons inspector who reported repeatedly to the UN that Hussein was giving him complete and total access, even jokingly said he was allowed to look under Hussein’s bed, said he was finding nothing and was nearly finished when the Bush administration told him the day before the invasion to pack it up and get out of Iraq.
Hans Blixx came back and wrote a scathing report eviscerating both the Blair and Bush administrations for engaging a needlessly gratuitous war that was NOT based upon reality.
2004’ Hans Blix, the former chief United Nations weapons inspector, said Monday that the Bush administration convinced itself of the existence of banned weapons based on dubious findings before invading Iraq and was not interested in hearing evidence to the contrary.
‘‘I think they had a set mind,’’ Mr. Blix said on the NBC News program ‘‘Today’’
Obama walking away with a full withdrawal was instrumental in the Iranian/ISIS invasions.
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Unfortunately Saddam Hussein had previous form…
Yeah, that was 20 years earlier when in our schizophrenic foreign policy, Hussein was our ally and we provided him with chemical WMD that he used on Iran.
The claim by US/UK in 2002-3 however was that he had nuclear weapons and would have an ability to hit the US with them within a year.
Wrong.
Saddam was never our ally, he was a protagonist against Iran that we supported for our own benefit.
There was no intel that he had nuclear weapons either, but clear indications he was again firing up his WMD programs including his nuclear program and a real fear that within 2 years he would have enough plutonium to build a nuclear weapon.
Why not stick to the truth instead of democrat talking points?
That’s assuming things go as you wish.
I wish - - that there was a truly reasonable candidate and party on either side. I will vote defensively unless I see a lot more centrism on the part of the Dems.
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There are no centrist democrats running.
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These days, you can count them on one hand in the whole party. They’ve become the party of propaganda, smears, phonies and use of every possible sophism to hide their true agenda. A pathetic, dangerous bunch.
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Rare as Hen’s Teeth would be more accurate. The entire party has become so radicalized even Biden and Obama would fall on the far right of the party.
Not Obama. He reminds me of every coffee-house communist I’ve ever known. Biden is just a corrupt empty shell, placing him on the spectrum would need a place for useful idiots.
Yes, but Obama couldn’t even make it to the stage today running on the same platforms he got elected on.
They have gone full hard left since.
I’ve got the correct description of Biden: Bill Clinton with 50 fewer IQ points and ED
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Honestly Biden is probably brain damaged. He has some serious cranial artery issues and heart issue history along with probably early stage dementia or Alzheimer’s as well.
He’s also just creepy as hell and a border line child molester if we are to take him at his words.
He was the trigger for the lunatics to come out of the closet.
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