For all of you 'we should have let the inspectors do their job' types:

[bryanthompson]

Hot off the press: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/02/16/woil116.xml

UN inspectors in Iraq spent their working hours drinking vodka while ignoring a shadowy nocturnal fleet believed to be smuggling goods for Saddam Hussein, a former senior inspector told the US Senate yesterday.
...
Arthur Ventham, a former Australian army officer and customs officer, joined the operation in 2002 and worked at various sites in Iraq and neighbouring states.
...
There he noticed small vessels and barges moving to a small island each night.

"I mentioned this to a number of other inspectors saying there was plenty of scope for smuggling and what were the UN doing about it.

"I was extremely surprised by the response that it was common knowledge smuggling was going on at Um Qasir [and that] the oil was being sold on the black market to augment the regime."

[stomachmonkey]

Originally posted by bryanthompson
Hot off the press: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/02/16/woil116.xml

Here's my edit of the same article.

"In a move that provoked fury from officials of the Swiss firm Cotecna, an Australian former inspector detailed a picture of incompetence, indifference and drunkeness among the men acting as the frontline for UN sanctions."

Customs inspectors, not WMD inspectors.

"He said that at Iskendurun in eastern Turkey, some officials had refused to work."

Saddam ran Turkey also?

"When he asked one of his bosses why, he was told: "They were friends or relatives of potential clients, and are only in the mission so the company could secure future contracts in Nigeria, Comoros and another African country.

"When I said that this was unfair on everyone else, I was told that it was general practice in Cotecna.

coughcough HALIBURTON coughcough

"Cotecna officials said the unheralded release of Mr Ventham's allegations was unfair and that they would respond in detail at a later date. They said Mr Ventham had been dismissed and was a disgruntled former employee."



Scott

[juanbenae]

"greatest member ever"? cough,cough,, weeeze. laughter, much laughter.

[bryanthompson]

[widebody911]

[ronin]

pearls before swine, Bryan. pearls before swine

[stevepaa]

I'm not sure what the lead in has to do with what was actually posted.

Because if we had let the inspectors do their job, we would have discovered Saddam did not have WMD or even close to it. And maybe we would have focused our efforts on Osama. And maybe have been able to establish a democratic government in Afghanistan first. Which in time might spill over to Iraq. There would not have been an invasion. 10,00 people would still be alive. Bush might not have been relected.
But since Bush wanted to attack Iraq from the start of his term, there was no way he was going to let the inspectors continue. So now we have entered into a new era of pre-emptive attack negating our historical "good guy in the white hat who only attacks after being attacked" stance in the world. We have lost the moral high ground. We will all have to live with that and more of us will die because of it.