Gulf War I disinformation

[uk_dave]

In the evening of 26th August President Bush telephoned me from Kennebunkport. I told him how pleased I was with Security Council Resolution 665 which had been passed the day before, enabling us to enforce the embargo. We must use our powers to stop Iraqi shipping. This was no time to go wobbly. Information we had gleaned from secret sources must be published to show up sanctions busting. The President agreed. I told him that the only area in which I thought we were not doing well was in the propaganda battle. We were now probably going into a longish period to see whether sanctions would work and we must not let the faint hearts grow in strength. The President was worried also about the use of the port of Aqaba in Jordan to evade sanctions and I told him that I would raise the question when I saw King Hussein in a few days' time.

In the case of Syria, my enemy's enemy had to become my friend. But I was saddened that one of Britain's most long standing friends appeared to be siding with the enemy. I had been on the friendliest of terms with King Hussein of Jordan but there could be no question of just allowing him to continue to flout sanctions and justify the Iraqi invasion. So when he came to see me for lunch on Friday 31st August I could not conceal my feelings.

He was clearly very uneasy about the line he was taking. He began by making a forty minute statement which yet again justified what the Iraqis had done. I said that I was amazed at his account of what was in fact a blatant act of aggression. Iraq was a country which had used chemical weapons not just in war but against its own people. Saddam Hussein was not only an international brigand, he was also a loser who had done immense damage both to the Palestinian cause and to the Arabs and who over eight years had vainly thrown wave after wave of young Iraqis into the war against Iran. I said that the King should not be attempting to negotiate on Iraq's behalf but rather to implement sanctions against it. I could not have been more direct. But no amount of pressure was likely to alter the calculation which the King had made: that he could not come out openly against Saddam Hussein and survive.

Copyright © Margaret Thatcher Foundation 2006. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.margaretthatcher.org/archive/displaydocument.asp?docid=110711

Now we know who the real leader of the NWO was!

 

[jhunter1163]

I know this belongs in the other thread but...

[hiphop]

Go Maggie.... Go Maggie.... Go Maggie...

[\hiphop]

 

[gumboot]

Geggy,

You are misinformed. I'm not sure where you get all your stories, but perhaps you should try a little harder.

For example, let's take the troops threatening Saudi Arabia. On the one hand, we have one minor newspaper with satellite photos they claim are from a particular time and place.

On the other hand we have actual combat engagements during the invasion, in the region of the Saudi Arabian border.

Clearly Iraq DID have forces near the Saudi border, otherwise these battles would not have occured.

The propaganda story, as already mentioned, was a product of Kuwaiti government, and there's no evidence the US or the coalition knew it was fake.

Your troop numbers are way off. Original estimates were for 550,000 to 600,000 troops. The actual numbers were about 360,000, 2/3 of them conscripts.

Perhaps you are confused because as the ground phase commenced thousands and thousands of Iraqi troops retreated into Iraq, and the US agreed not to fight them, capturing them instead.

In the capacitor story, you also have been shown to be incorrect.

So that makes 0/4. Well done.

Oh, by the way, perhaps this little tidbit will amuse you:

It's a comment by Dick Cheney in 1992 (he was Sec. of Def. during the Persian Gulf War):

"I would guess if we had gone in there, I would still have forces in Baghdad today. We'd be running the country. We would not have been able to get everybody out and bring everybody home.

And the final point that I think needs to be made is this question of casualties. I don't think you could have done all of that without significant additional U.S. casualties, and while everybody was tremendously impressed with the low cost of the (1991) conflict, for the 146 Americans who were killed in action and for their families, it wasn't a cheap war.

And the question in my mind is, how many additional American casualties is Saddam (Hussein) worth? And the answer is, not that damned many. So, I think we got it right, both when we decided to expel him from Kuwait, but also when the President made the decision that we'd achieved our objectives and we were not going to go get bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq."

Now does that really sound like an evil neocon who has wanted to take over the world for years and years?

This gives you a grand total score of -1/4

-Gumboot

 

[Loss Leader]

Saddam invaded Kuwait because he thought it rightfully belonged to him (the "19th province"). The Kuwaitis begged to differ and asked the UN for help. The end.

Actually, one of Saddam's accusations was that Kuwait was slant-drilling - drilling for oil with rigs in Kuwait but whose wells were dug at an angle under Iraqi soil. At least one of his goals in the invasion was to find documentation proving this.

Amazingly, he was right. The Kuwaitis were engaged in exactly that practice.

It doesn't excuse the invasion, the refusal to withdraw or, basically, anything he did while running Iraq, but it is an interesting footnote.

 

[gumboot]

Actually, one of Saddam's accusations was that Kuwait was slant-drilling - drilling for oil with rigs in Kuwait but whose wells were dug at an angle under Iraqi soil. At least one of his goals in the invasion was to find documentation proving this.

Amazingly, he was right. The Kuwaitis were engaged in exactly that practice.

It doesn't excuse the invasion, the refusal to withdraw or, basically, anything he did while running Iraq, but it is an interesting footnote.

I used this story as part of my "grand conspiracy" back story for an animated series I am writing. Except in my version the rumours of slant drilling are untrue, and originated with the evil mastermind who wanted to drag the US into a "Vietnam in the Sand" to destroy them.

It's actually kind of fun playing CTer for the purpose of the storyline. Amazing how easy it is to just tweak a few facts to make it all fit.

-Gumboot

 

[Ripley Twenty-Nine]

"I would guess if we had gone in there, I would still have forces in Baghdad today. We'd be running the country. We would not have been able to get everybody out and bring everybody home.

And the final point that I think needs to be made is this question of casualties. I don't think you could have done all of that without significant additional U.S. casualties, and while everybody was tremendously impressed with the low cost of the (1991) conflict, for the 146 Americans who were killed in action and for their families, it wasn't a cheap war.

And the question in my mind is, how many additional American casualties is Saddam (Hussein) worth? And the answer is, not that damned many. So, I think we got it right, both when we decided to expel him from Kuwait, but also when the President made the decision that we'd achieved our objectives and we were not going to go get bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq."

AHA! This quote PROVES beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Government was behind 9/11!





Somehow.

 

[Horatius]

AHA! This quote PROVES beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Government was behind 9/11!


Somehow.

Cheney wanted to prove how right he was back in 1992, before he dies!

QED

Now be quiet,or you'll have to go hunting with him! [/SubtleThreat]

 

[Dave1001]

Perfect examples that the US govt are capable of going any lengths in creating false pretext for war.

I think this follow-up posts overreaches a little (a bit too absolutist and categorical) and undermines your well-written OP.

 

[Big Les]

I think this follow-up posts overreaches a little (a bit too absolutist and categorical) and undermines your well-written OP.

Bloody hell, stop the presses.

 

[lostnick3]

or did they pull us back from the brink of out and out revolution by color coding the states, instituting a very colorful red alert system and a paper trail when we beep a vote.

just whats going to be the next big disaster to refocus us?

 

[Cylinder]

Iraq deployed ~17 infantry divisions on the Saudi border during Operation Desert Sheild with the majority of these divisions having been placed before the coalition buildup. In the KTO itself, Iraq fielded ~25 infantry divions and ~15 mechanized or armoured divisions. That was ~2/3 of Iraq's total strength at the time.