06-05-2004, 07:45 AM
"The evidence I have seen shows that the Russians, Isreali's, Saudi's, German's, French, British, and US intelligence thought Chemical and Biological stockpiles existed in Iraq."
The difference here is that, while some nations choose to believe anything their intelligence services declare to be true, other nations insist on actually having factual evidence before voting to go to war. Yet other nations are so convinced by their own intelligence they're willing to override the legal mechanisms that require votes to do so. Still others get blown to smithereens for having weapons they don't actually have.
France, Germany and Russia were smart enough to say "well, if they're so obviously there, how about we try and find even a single instance of these supposed breaches before launching an invasion?", whereas the US and UK apparently thought that kind of dependence on confirmed fact was unnecessary. Who needs boring Dr. Blix (Hans Blinks, as one poetic commentator called him) to give us the green light when we've got satellite photos of trucks and buildings, forged documents, aluminum tubing, and the word of completely trustworthy exiles? To quote Dubya, what more proof could anyone need?
I hope they've learned their lesson, although I think what they may have learned instead is that if you pile crap a mile high, people can't see past it.
Jester
The difference here is that, while some nations choose to believe anything their intelligence services declare to be true, other nations insist on actually having factual evidence before voting to go to war. Yet other nations are so convinced by their own intelligence they're willing to override the legal mechanisms that require votes to do so. Still others get blown to smithereens for having weapons they don't actually have.
France, Germany and Russia were smart enough to say "well, if they're so obviously there, how about we try and find even a single instance of these supposed breaches before launching an invasion?", whereas the US and UK apparently thought that kind of dependence on confirmed fact was unnecessary. Who needs boring Dr. Blix (Hans Blinks, as one poetic commentator called him) to give us the green light when we've got satellite photos of trucks and buildings, forged documents, aluminum tubing, and the word of completely trustworthy exiles? To quote Dubya, what more proof could anyone need?
I hope they've learned their lesson, although I think what they may have learned instead is that if you pile crap a mile high, people can't see past it.
Jester