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| International |
| Why U.N. can’t handle the job |
| 2003-04-11 |
| Edited for content: People's Exhibit 1 in the case for limiting U.N. control over the future of Iraq is the "Roland 2," France's best man-portable air defense weapon. Capitol Hill has been told that soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division have found a stack of these weapons at a military depot attached to Baghdad International Airport. Some of them had "2002" manufacturing dates. How interesting, tell us more. Germany's Der Stern reports that additional Rolands were found when U.S. and Kurdish forces overran the Ansar Al-Islam terrorist base in northeastern Iraq last week. According to the Pentagon, it was a Roland that destroyed a USAF A-10 aircraft on Tuesday. These weapons pose a significant threat to allied aircraft. It is also interesting, given the debate over whether the Saddam Hussein regime had connections to terrorists, that the Iraqi Army and the Ansar Al-Islam group were armed with the same weapon. Check the serial numbers and see if they come from the same production run. Bet the French have "lost" the records showing where they went. Iraq has been under a U.N. Arms Embargo since 1990. Gee, isn't that about 12 years before these missiles were made? In addition to the Rolands, allied forces are turning up a number of foreign weapons or other military gear, most of which violate the embargo. This is the flavor of an ever-growing list:
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #5 Brasil lists left and listing more each day, we don't need another one of those. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-04-11 20:26:00 |
| #4 I know it might take a rewriting of UN charter, but has anyone floated the idea of dumping France from the Security Council? I mean, WHY are they still there. Stalin's question about the Pope seems appropo here. Possible replacement players could be: (we could have fun here) -Japan (I know, no divisions either - but definite specific gravity) -The Whole EU as one seat (GB must exit) -India (imagine that - tooooo scary) -Brasil (doesn't emerging Sud America rate a seat?) -If it's just GNP you want, how 'bout Taiwan? |
| Posted by: Scott 2003-04-11 13:54:48 |
| #3 We should make them provide receipts and paperwork for the debts owed. Make it very public. How could Iraq owe you for that, clearly they were under sanctions at the time, you must be mistaken. How could Iraq owe you so much for those tanks, clearly they were of inferior quality, the sale should result in a breach of contract and forfieture of payment. |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-04-11 13:03:31 |
| #2 An idea. Let's return the hardware to the countries that provided it to Saddam's Iraq. In exchange, new Iraq will write off debt to those countries. One for one. Tit for tat. We could even do it under UN auspices. The people of New Iraq, I'm sure, will want to square their debts. They could pay off the debts with whole blood, but I think they need it right now. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-04-11 12:07:07 |
| #1 Let's keep 'em all. I suspect we'll want all the ordinance we can get our hands on after North Korea goes nuclear. The above news prompts another question about expanding the list of nations comprising the current "Axis of Evil," but it's too depressing to ask. ccw |
| Posted by: FormerLIberal 2003-04-11 09:51:53 |