If he had any, wouldn’t he have used them by now?
The US and UK have weapons to mass destruction. Why haven’t they used them by now?
Sua
Well, for Saddam’s part, the wind is from the southwest, and that’s where we’re coming from.
Plus, bear in mind that we’re not getting a lot of help from our normal allies. If he started using WMD, they’d jump on the bandwagon and help us slap him like a red-headed stepchild.
He might feel the best hope for survival of his regime is that the United States will succumb to international antiwar sentiment and pull out. But France has already said it would give support to the United States if Saddam uses chemical or biological weapons. Other countries and individuals who oppose the war might not want to be seen as sympathizing with a regime that has used WOMD.
(This response assumes that he has them, in line with your question.)
Sua - I was talking about against our military which is currently attacking him. Your rhetorical question was no help whatsoever - the U.N. and U.S. aren’t being attacked.
It is likely that Hussein’s strategy now is to try to make the war last as long as possible, in the hopes that international pressure will force the US and UK to withdraw. If he uses WoMD, international pressure would disappear.
He will use WoMD if, and only if, it becomes apparent to him that international pressure won’t cause an end to the war, or will cause that end to come too late.
Sua
I was joking, and I thought the joke was obvious.
But, if you want to take it seriously, what makes you think that WoMD’s are only defensive weapons? They aren’t - in fact, they are all more useful as offensive weapons.
Sua
New gas masks found on Iraqis
Marines have found Iraqi troops with respirators which have expiry dates of 2007.
It may be the clearest sign yet that Saddam Hussein may intend to use weapons of mass destruction against Allied forces.
Don’t forget, there is a very good chance that Saddam may be incapacitated or even dead at this point (considering that he hasn’t made an appearance aside from two videotaped addresses that could easily have been made before the hostilities began.) So he might not be around to give the order, and his underlings are too skiddish to assume the responsibility for launching WOMD.
Well, why didn’t the U.S. use nuclear weapons in Viet Nam?
Why didn’t Britain use nukes in the Falklands?
Why didn’t the Soviets use them in Afghanistan?
Answer: Because you don’t drop nuclear weapons on territory you hope to occupy!
I don’t know what weapons Saddam Hussein has at his disposal, but even if he had major stashes of chemical weapons or a few nuclear warheads, he MIGHT not think it a good idea to use them (yet), for purely practical reasons. He doesn’t yet think he’s in immediate danger of overthrow.
Did the troops have full NBC protection, or just respirators? Our troops have non-lethal chemical weapons at their disposal (tear gas), and having a fresh respirator on every soldier’s belt would be a good idea for an opposing army. If all they have is respirators, then that’s about all they’re protected from.
Iraqi troops have also been found to be carrying Cipro, which is taken in case of exposure to anthrax and other biowarfare agents.
Umm, lots of soldiers carry that sort of stuff. This is hardly a smoking gun.
As for the OP. the absence of evidence isn’t evidence. He may well have WoMD and have them in reserve or he may be in breech of the UN resolutions by having the components for WoMD but not in a usable state. We know that 90%+ of his WoMD have been destroyed in the years since the Gulf War in '91. So he’s probably got less than 10% of his original stockpile to work with. Basically if he’s got any, he hasn’t got many. I sort of agree with Sua that he sees his greatest hope in international pressure if he can prolong the war. Him using WoMD would throw in most of the rest of the world on the Coalition side.
However, I disagree with Sua when he says this is the only reason Hussein hasn’t used them so far. If his WoMD programs were even a fraction as large as rumored then almost certainly there are WoMD production sites in Coalition control right now. If this is the case then he’s already lost the propaganda war and the only reason to hold off is in hopes that US troops will besiege Bhagdad and thus provide a nice cluster of troops to unleash WoMD on.
Enjoy,
Steven
I didn’t mean to imply that my hypothesis was the only reason Hussein hasn’t used WoMD.
Sua
:dubious:
(emphasis mine)But no sweat, you didn’t mean to imply this as absolute fact, I’m ok with this clarification. I can see that this statement may not apply to past decisions, only your opinion of the thought process he will use on future ones.
Enjoy,
Steven
Actually, what I meant by my “clarification” is that while, IMO, this is likely Hussein’s thought processes, a lot of things could stop him from using WoMD even if he decides the time has come to use them.
Sua
What if he gasp has no significant arsenal of WMD after all?
How will we ever know? Would this become a nightmare for our government?
This is a Hijack because I would like to dwell on this political nightmare scenario for the moment. If there are no clear cut evidence of WMD after we kill Saddam and his regime, the administration will fall heavily on the “Iraqi liberation” spin. The top levels of the CIA are going to get decapitated, Bush could easily be replaced by Colin Powell in the republican nominations for the election 2004, France will never let us live this down (and they will be even more insufferable), Terrorism will increase significantly, the US will lose most of the Arab nations goodwill, our economy will still grow but any stake in the EU will be tenuous, we will hear more from Sharpton and Jessie about all of this and Daschle will have a field day, the UN will probably have a lot to say about the Bush administrations actions and Saddam will be a martyr to the Muslim extremists the likes of which even Osam Bin Ladin cannot imagine.
We will never know, obviously. If they never find them, it will remain for eternity that they “still haven’t been found yet.”
X~Slayer, for whom is that a “nightmare”? Most of those things are already reality.