"BUFDRVR" wrote in message
...
Not 100% accurate. *If* Saddam managed to export his weapons to Syria (a
very
unforseen event by the way that dems seem anxious to exploit as if they
knew
this was going to happen) their chance of being used probably just got cut
in
half.

The notion that Saddam might flush his chemical/biological weapons was
discussed before the invasion. It doesn't take a lot of foresight to predict
that someone with chemical weapons who was about to go down might -- if they
chose not to use them -- give them away to someone who might. And, while I
agree that any ex-Iraqi weapons under the control of the Syrian government
are relatively safe, I'm not so sure that the Syrian government is the only
recipient (by accident or design).

Allowed? You'll have to show me how we were complicit with the looting of
what
were *suspected* facilities. Ask any democrat, they'll tell you Iraq
didn't
have any WMD; so what exactly was looted?

Check out: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/3002169.stm.
Basically the US failed to secure know nuclear (not weapon related, but
research and the like) and they were looted. Net result is that radioactive
material suitible for making a dirty bomb are missing.

So, "allowed" as in "had a responsibility to prevent and failed to do so".

tied our hands is a new and more dangerous
threat emerges

I don't follow this one?

Sorry, typo: "hands _if_ a new". Basically what do we do now if, for
example, there is for example an Islamic revolt in Pakistan?

and alienated the entire region

Hardly. If we had alienated the entire region, we would not currently be
hosted
in nearly every country on the southern shores of the Persian Gulf.

Check out: http://people-press.org/reports/disp...3?ReportID=185. It is
a somewhat troubling sign when more people in think Osama is more likely to
do the right thing than Bush.

Uhh, because the closer you are to Iraq the less tankers you need. There
would
have been no way (unless you built a few more airfields in the region) to
put
up the same number of SOUTHERN WATCH sorties every day if most strike
aircraft
had to fly from Al Udeid or even Masirah or Thumrait. There just wasn't
enough
ramp space for all the tankers you would have needed.

How many sorties/day were flown by SOUTHERN WATCH? I admit I'm surprised
that we couldn't have supported it with a couple of airfields, but you are
the expert. Even so, though, how much would it have cost to expand the ramp
space?