🚀 go-pugleaf

On 3 Aug 2002 20:23:29 GMT, Merlin Dorfman <dorfman@rahul.net> wrote:

>Charlie Wilkes (charlie_wilkes@easynews.com) wrote:
>: On Fri, 2 Aug 2002 14:53:35 -0700, "Rod & BJ" <soggy@pacifier.com>
>: wrote:
>
>...
>
>: >Amazing.......If Saddam indeed possesses such abilities you just made a
>: >strong case to take him out and aptly demonstrated how negligent Clinton was
>: >to let him off the inspection hook. Your apparent appeasement desire has a
>: >strong correlation to WW2 and Chamberlain's rather failed policies.  Soggy
>: >
>: The analogy is nonsensical.  Saddam is not even rattling sabres, let
>: alone grabbing territory as Hitler was; you point out yourself that
>: his conventional military capabilities have been reduced.  In effect,
>: he has been contained per the intended policy goal of the U.S. and its
>: allies.
>
>     Of Bill Clinton's many accomplishments, domestic and foreign,
>one of the more remarkable is making Bush I's rickety structure for
>containing Saddam hold together and more-or-less work for eight
>years.  That it has fallen apart recently is no surprise; the
>surprise is that Clinton (with some help from our "allies") was 
>able to keep some inspections going, keep the embargo in place, and
>keep Saddam from exterminating the Kurds.  
>     It is ironic that the collapse of this structure has fallen on
>Bush II who must now find something to replace it.
>
I think both you and Soggy are wearing partisan blinders.  Clinton did
nothing vis-a-vis Iraq to distinguish himself as a exceptional
statesman or strategist; neither did he fuck up on a grand scale.  He
stuck to a modest agenda that recognized the immense complexities of
any policy in that region.

Charlie

>: If you think Clinton is responsible for Saddam being in power today,
>: you had better come to terms with the fact that George H.W. Bush
>: failed to support a popular revolution that very nearly unseated
>: Saddam immediately after the Gulf War.  U.S. air strikes against Iraqi
>: armor putting down the revolt would easily have swung the balance.
>: Bush Sr. knew it, had a plan in place, and decided not to execute.  He
>: has since expressed regret over balking in a letter that was made
>: public.  He did not want to put Saudi crown stability at risk by
>: supporting a Shiite-led revolution in Iraq.
>
>: Charlie