Iraq and Why There Was A Threat

On November 13, 2011, in Get Dialed In With Nick Dial, by admin

As Iraq becomes more vacant of U.S. troops from the draw down, man are asking the question. It’s been almost ten years, was it worth the fight and was Iraq really a threat?

To further stop terrorism, we must cut off logistic and state support of terror. Iraq has been a sore spot for many people, but many do not realize why Iraq was so relevant to The War on Terror. Terrorist cells need support. They come in various ways, but the largest support is from sponsored states. Like Iran, Iraq has had a history of supporting terrorist activity. The concern of many nations after 9/11 was that Saddam had the ambition, and weapons to deliver into the hands of various terrorists groups. The United Nations, British Intelligence, and CIA all supplied Intel stating that Saddam Hussein possessed chemical weapons. After all, he used them on his own people and gassed the Kurds. Fear of Saddam giving access of such weapons to terrorists was of major concern. As it was, Saddam had already violated every United Nations Sanction that had been put into place. He also continued to refuse U.N. inspectors to come in the country. According to the United States Government, the following 16 sanctions were violated in full. These sanctions include the possession and use of weapons of mass destruction, human rights violations, adhering to weapons inspections, and much more. The following is a list of all violated sanctions by the Saddam regime.

UNSCR 678 – November 29, 1990

Iraq must comply fully with UNSCR 660 (regarding Iraq’s illegal invasion of Kuwait) “and all subsequent relevant resolutions.”
Authorizes UN Member States “to use all necessary means to uphold and implement resolution 660 and all subsequent relevant resolutions and to restore international peace and security in the area.”

UNSCR 686 – March 2, 1991

Iraq must release prisoners detained during the Gulf War.
Iraq must return Kuwaiti property seized during the Gulf War.
Iraq must accept liability under international law for damages from its illegal invasion of Kuwait.

UNSCR 687 – April 3, 1991

Iraq must “unconditionally accept” the destruction, removal or rendering harmless “under international supervision” of all “chemical and biological weapons and all stocks of agents and all related subsystems and components and all research, development, support and manufacturing facilities.”
Iraq must “unconditionally agree not to acquire or develop nuclear weapons or nuclear-weapons-usable material” or any research, development or manufacturing facilities.
Iraq must “unconditionally accept” the destruction, removal or rendering harmless “under international supervision” of all “ballistic missiles with a range greater than 150 KM and related major parts and repair and production facilities.”
Iraq must not “use, develop, construct or acquire” any weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq must reaffirm its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Creates the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) to verify the elimination of Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons programs and mandated that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verify elimination of Iraq’s nuclear weapons program.
Iraq must declare fully its weapons of mass destruction programs.
Iraq must not commit or support terrorism, or allow terrorist organizations to operate in Iraq.
Iraq must cooperate in accounting for the missing and dead Kuwaitis and others.
Iraq must return Kuwaiti property seized during the Gulf War.

UNSCR 688 – April 5, 1991

“Condemns” repression of Iraqi civilian population, “the consequences of which threaten international peace and security.”
Iraq must immediately end repression of its civilian population.
Iraq must allow immediate access to international humanitarian organizations to those in need of assistance.

UNSCR 707 – August 15, 1991

“Condemns” Iraq’s “serious violation” of UNSCR 687.
“Further condemns” Iraq’s noncompliance with IAEA and its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Iraq must halt nuclear activities of all kinds until the Security Council deems Iraq in full compliance.
Iraq must make a full, final and complete disclosure of all aspects of its weapons of mass destruction and missile programs.
Iraq must allow UN and IAEA inspectors immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access.
Iraq must cease attempts to conceal or move weapons of mass destruction, and related materials and facilities.
Iraq must allow UN and IAEA inspectors to conduct inspection flights throughout Iraq.
Iraq must provide transportation, medical and logistical support for UN and IAEA inspectors.

UNSCR 715 – October 11, 1991

Iraq must cooperate fully with UN and IAEA inspectors.

UNSCR 949 – October 15, 1994

“Condemns” Iraq’s recent military deployments toward Kuwait.
Iraq must not utilize its military or other forces in a hostile manner to threaten its neighbors or UN operations in Iraq.
Iraq must cooperate fully with UN weapons inspectors.
Iraq must not enhance its military capability in southern Iraq.

UNSCR 1051 – March 27, 1996

Iraq must report shipments of dual-use items related to weapons of mass destruction to the UN and IAEA.
Iraq must cooperate fully with UN and IAEA inspectors and allow immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access.

UNSCR 1060 – June 12, 1996

“Deplores” Iraq’s refusal to allow access to UN inspectors and Iraq’s “clear violations” of previous UN resolutions.
Iraq must cooperate fully with UN weapons inspectors and allow immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access.

UNSCR 1115 – June 21, 1997

“Condemns repeated refusal of Iraqi authorities to allow access” to UN inspectors, which constitutes a “clear and flagrant violation” of UNSCR 687, 707, 715, and 1060.
Iraq must cooperate fully with UN weapons inspectors and allow immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access.
Iraq must give immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access to Iraqi officials whom UN inspectors want to interview.

UNSCR 1134 – October 23, 1997

“Condemns repeated refusal of Iraqi authorities to allow access” to UN inspectors, which constitutes a “flagrant violation” of UNSCR 687, 707, 715, and 1060.
Iraq must cooperate fully with UN weapons inspectors and allow immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access.
Iraq must give immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access to Iraqi officials whom UN inspectors want to interview.

UNSCR 1137 – November 12, 1997

“Condemns the continued violations by Iraq” of previous UN resolutions, including its “implicit threat to the safety of” aircraft operated by UN inspectors and its tampering with UN inspector monitoring equipment.
Reaffirms Iraq’s responsibility to ensure the safety of UN inspectors.
Iraq must cooperate fully with UN weapons inspectors and allow immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access.

UNSCR 1154 – March 2, 1998

Iraq must cooperate fully with UN and IAEA weapons inspectors and allow immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access, and notes that any violation would have the “severest consequences for Iraq.”

UNSCR 1194 – September 9, 1998

“Condemns the decision by Iraq of 5 August 1998 to suspend cooperation with” UN and IAEA inspectors, which constitutes “a totally unacceptable contravention” of its obligations under UNSCR 687, 707, 715, 1060, 1115, and 1154.
Iraq must cooperate fully with UN and IAEA weapons inspectors, and allow immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access.

UNSCR 1205 – November 5, 1998

“Condemns the decision by Iraq of 31 October 1998 to cease cooperation” with UN inspectors as “a flagrant violation” of UNSCR 687 and other resolutions.
Iraq must provide “immediate, complete and unconditional cooperation” with UN and IAEA inspectors.

UNSCR 1284 – December 17, 1999

Created the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission (UNMOVIC) to replace previous weapon inspection team (UNSCOM).
Iraq must allow UNMOVIC “immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access” to Iraqi officials and facilities.
Iraq must fulfill its commitment to return Gulf War prisoners.
Calls on Iraq to distribute humanitarian goods and medical supplies to its people and address the needs of vulnerable Iraqis without discrimination. Source: (2008, White house).

There have been many critics on Iraq. There are various reasons why, but some of the following are the more common objections:

1. Objection: “The Bush Administration planned for an attack against Iraq before September 11th, 2001” (Iraqi Veterans against the War, 2008).

Counter Objection: “Heavy as they are, the costs of action must be weighed against the price of inaction. If Saddam defies the world and we fail to respond, we will face a far greater threat in the future. Saddam will strike again at his neighbors; he will make war on his own people. And mark my words he will develop weapons of mass destruction. He will deploy them, and he will use them. These words were uttered by William Jefferson Clinton, not by George W. Bush, to explain why the U.S. launched air strikes against Saddam in 1998. But no one has accused President Clinton of distorting intelligence. It is not just the Bush and Clinton Administrations that believed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. The intelligence services of Britain, France, Russia, Germany, and Israel, among many others, held similar opinions” (Phillips, 2004). President Bush was picking up where Clinton left off, of course he had plans for a conflict, the administration before him concurred in the fact a threat was inevitable and needed swift action.

2. Objection: “They used the false pretense of an imminent nuclear, chemical and biological weapons threat to deceive Congress into rationalizing this unnecessary conflict” (Iraqi Veterans against the War, 2008).

Counter Objection: It is not just the Bush and Clinton Administrations that believed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. The intelligence services of Britain, France, Russia, Germany, and Israel, among many others, held similar opinions” (Phillips, 2004). Furthermore, according to Britt Hume, the number two man for Saddam’s Air force stated that weapons of mass destruction were secretly moved into Syria by plane (2006). The Washington post states that the CIA says they can’t rule out this move. According to the CIA the move is sufficiently creditable. This is supported by the fact there was satellite photos showing mass numbers of Iraqi military cargo trucks lined up entering the Syrian border, Syria has been a known receiver of such weapons in the past(2006). After all, when the police are knocking down the door, the drugs are being flushed down the toilet. No one can logically argue that Saddam would leave weapons hanging around when he knew Allied Forces were coming. Newsmax.com reported in 2005 that when Allied forces entered Iraq, they discovered 500 tons of yellow cake uranium. It was located at the Tuwaitha Nuclear Weapons Research and Development Plant just south of Baghdad (2005). This uranium is one step away from being weapons grade material, it only needs enrichment. Five hundred shells of chemical weapons were also uncovered in Iraq, one of which was located inside a roadside bomb (Washington post, 2006).

According to Newsmax “ Ivan Oelrich, a physicist at the Federation of American Scientists, told the Associated Press that if it was of the 3 percent to 5 percent level of enrichment common in fuel for commercial power reactors, the 1.8 tons could be used to produce enough highly enriched uranium to make a single nuclear bomb” (2005). The article further states that a physicist tapped by Saddam Hussein stated that the nuclear program continued after the first Gulf War and was funded through 1997. Then it was put on standby, with the ability to continue at a moment’s notice. (2005). With the refusal of inspectors being able to come in, and everything that has come to light, the ingredients are here for a very dangerous situation. Based on the above stated information, it is more than reasonable to say there was nothing “false” about such a threat.

3. Objection: “The reasons and rationale given for the invasion were fraudulent.
There were no Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq during the time of the invasion according to US officials and former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix. The idea that Al Qeada and the 9/11 terrorist attacks were connected to Saddam Hussein and the Baath party were proven false in the 9/11 Commission Report.” (Iraqi Veterans against the War, 2008).

Counter Objection: There are serious flaws with this argument. In regards to “there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq”, see counter argument number two, There clearly were. The definition of a WMD is the following: “Any weapon or device that is intended, or has the capability, to cause death or serious bodily injury to a significant number of people through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals or their precursors, a disease organism, or radiation or radioactivity” (Csa discovery guides, 2008). Everything listed in counter argument number two is by definition a weapon of mass destruction, and was found in Iraq. When it comes to the 9/11 commission report, and Saddam having ties to Al-Qaeda, the report was published in 2004. Information discovered since its release has proved otherwise. In 2008 The Sun reported the following: “A Pentagon review of about 600,000 documents captured in the Iraq war attests to Saddam Hussein’s willingness to use terrorism to target Americans and work closely with jihadist organizations throughout the Middle East” (Lake, 2008). Lake goes on to stating the following:

“The Iraqi Intelligence Service in a 1993 memo to Saddam agreed on a plan to train commandos from Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the group that assassinated Anwar Sadat and was founded by Al Qaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. In the same year, Saddam ordered his intelligence service to “form a group to start hunting Americans present on Arab soil; especially Somalia.” At the time, Al Qaeda was working with warlords against American forces there. Saddam’s intelligence services maintained extensive support networks for a wide range of Palestinian Arab terrorist organizations, including but not limited to Hamas. Among the other Palestinian groups Saddam supported at the time was Force 17, the private army loyal to Yasser Arafat” (Lake, 2008). Upon further investigation it was found that Iraqi military documents were discovered showing close links to Saddam and Al-Qaeda. According to Scott Wheeler, with CNS News.com, He states the following: “Iraqi intelligence documents, confiscated by U.S. forces and obtained by CNSNews.com, show numerous efforts by Saddam Hussein’s regime to work with some of the world’s most notorious terror organizations, including al-Qaida, to target Americans. The documents demonstrate that Saddam’s government possessed mustard gas and anthrax, both considered weapons of mass destruction, in the summer of 2000, during the period in which United Nations weapons inspectors were not present in Iraq- papers show that Iraq trained dozens of terrorists inside its borders” (2004).

Scott Wheeler goes on to write the following concerning the documents: “A former weapons inspector with the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), a retired CIA counter-terrorism official with vast experience dealing with Iraq, and a former advisor to then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton on Iraq – were asked to analyze the documents. All said they comport with the format, style and content of other Iraqi documents from that era known to be genuine” (2004). According to Scott Wheeler other researchers did not find this surprising, and had warned of a backlash from Saddam for the humiliation of the first Gulf War. Scott Wheeler’s article states the following: “Laurie Mylroie, who wrote the book “Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein’s Unfinished War Against America,” and advised Bill Clinton on Iraq during the 1992 presidential campaign, told CNSNews.com that the papers represented “the most complete set of documents relating Iraq to terrorism, including Islamic terrorism” against the U.S. Mylroie has long maintained that Iraq was a state sponsor of terrorism against the United States. The documents obtained by CNSNews.com, she said, include “correspondence back and forth between Saddam’s office and Iraqi Mukhabarat [intelligence agency]. They make sense. This is what one would think Saddam was doing at the time.” Bruce Tefft, a retired CIA official who specialized in counter-terrorism and had extensive experience dealing with Iraq, said that “based on available, unclassified and open source information, the details in these documents are accurate …” (2004). Based on this information, there were weapons of mass destruction, and Saddam had very close ties with terrorist groups including Al-Qaeda.

The war on terror is very complicated, which requires much research to accurately grasp. Iraq clearly had much ambition to further its threat to the west. When 9/11 took place a great game of chess was unleashed on the world, and threats needed to be prioritized. Too many people become fixated on the location of action. Iraq is just one battlefield in a global war. With that said however, the Intel that had been provided, and the Intel that has since been found, it is safe to say that Iraq was a logical military action to stop powerful arms from getting in the hands of Islamic Jihadists.

References

(2008). Retrieved January 16, 2009, from The White House Web site:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/decade/sect2.html

(2005). Cia cant rule out wmd move to syria. from

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2005/apr/27/20050427-121915-1667r/

In Csa discovery guides [Web]. Retrieved 12/03/2008, from

http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/terror/gloss.php

(2005). The uranium joe wilson didn’t mention. Retrieved 11,23,2008, from

http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/7/17/171214.shtml

Lake, Eli (2008). Report details saddams terroist ties. Retrieved 12/03/2008, from

http://www.nysun.com/foreign/report-details-saddams-terrorist-ties/72906/

Hume, Britt (2006). Fox news, Wmd in syria. Retrieved 11,23,2008, from