SouthernDemocrat said:
It doesn’t, but here is where that thing called common sense comes in. If you are watching a suspected chemical weapons depot because you are concerned that those chemical weapons will be deployed to enemy troops in the run up to an invasion, then why would you sit there and do nothing when you saw evidence of those weapons being moved?
Israeli surveillance satellites (SURVSATS) tracked and video-taped more than one truck convoy moving materials from Iraq to Syria. All convoy trucks were either covered or enclosed. It is impossible to know exactly what was transferred, but the Iraqi convoys terminated at Syrian military facilities and were unloaded inside warehouses. These transfers occured prior to the US theater military buildup and well before the invasion of Iraq. Israeli SURVSATS have also tracked and video-taped Chinese cargo ships docking at Syrian offshore port facilities. The cargo here consists of short-range rockets which are smuggled into Palestine, and medium-range missiles destined for Hizb'allah in the Bekaa Valley. Clearly, Syria has dirty hands.
As an aside, I would also point out that Saddam had a history of transfering military weaponry outside of Iraq in times of distress. During the Gulf War, the Iraqi Air Force escaped total destruction by taking flight en-mass to Iran.
SouthernDemocrat said:
Yes, that’s your claim. However, I only pointed out that the northern route to Syria was through Kurdish controlled area which would have limited the area that Saddam could have moved those weapons to Syria through.
The traditional Iraqi travel route to both Syria and Jordan is Highway 10 which runs through former Ba'athist strongholds such as Falujah and Ramadi in the mostly Sunni dominated province of Anbar in the Sunni Triangle. Actually, this is virtually the only modern highway an Iraqi convoy would use to reach the borders of Syria and Jordan.
It has been questioned why US fighter jets patroling the No-Fly zones did not intercept and destroy these Iraqi convoys. Firstly, Highway 10 is not located in either of the former northern or southern No-Fly zones. Secondly, if these convoys did indeed consist of chemical and/or biological agents, an attack could disperse these agents with untold human and environmental consequences.
SouthernDemocrat said:
I have three commissions that back my point of view.
So? Simply consider the venerated 9/11 Commission Report which itself is flawed, censored, and abbreviated.
All that being said, I hardly see what Iraq has to do with the current situation with Iran. Iran has publicly stated that it is pursuing nuclear weapons. The IAEA of the UN has documented numerous Iranian violations of the Non-Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of which Iran is an original signatory. Iran has been caught by the IAEA building centrifuge-cascades for the purpose of enriching uranium reactor waste to weapons-grade uranium (HEU). Iran has imported missile technology from North Korea... and its Shahab-6 missile (currently in production) can target all of continental Europe. Iran has more than once publicly stated an intent to use its nuclear weapons against Israel.
The problem here is that waiting until an Iranian nuclear warhead is actually produced is well too late. Once a viable Iranian nuclear weapon is produced, there is no way to turn back the hands of time and erase this capability. Once the technology is mastered, Iran joins the ranks of nations with nuclear weapons. Just as Pakistan aided Iran in nuclear proliferation, Iran will have the capacity to sell or transfer this knowledge to whomever it pleases. I remind you that the Hamas and Hizb'allah terrorist organizations are closely aligned with Iran and are trained and armed by Iranian Pasdaran military units.
Since Iran is predominantly Shi'a Muslim, Sunni Muslim nations such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt will feel compelled to aquire their own nuclear deterence. This waterfall effect will nuclearize the Middle East... a highly unstable region by virtually any standard. The core issue here is very clear to me. Either the global community stands united to end Iranian and all nuclear proliferation, or the prospect of a nuclear Armageddon is almost a certainty.