Well if this is based on sales revenue, of course we're going to be at the bottom. Because we probably GAVE it to them. We didn't SELL it to them. A couple of canisters of Anthrax is of course going to account for a smaller percentage of their military spending than say an entire armoured division, or 1 million AKs.
Weird how you never see any old american hardware destroyed when watching the war on the TV. It's always Soviet Bloc equipment.
the sad part is back in the 80's i could have bought anthrax strains from the same damn company that iraq did. it was not as if our government 'gave' him the weapons.
But a canister of Anthrax is not going to give you the capability to invade other nations. The T-72s, BMPs, MIGs, and AK-47s from the Warsaw Pact nations & China (and don't forget the Mirage jets from France), OTOH, will.
Do they have a graph just for "WMD materials"? It's supposedly the WMDs, not the few tanks Saddam had left after Iran and Kuwait, that are the reason we're conquering Iraq. A graph for WMDs would probably show the USA and Germany as the prime suspects. A graph of "nations the assisted Saddam in actually using the WMDs he had" would be the US for the sterling service we rendered him during his war with Iran (whom we also armed to fund that little terrorist army in Nicaragua, remember).
We're not going to war because he might invade Iran again. Even when he was fully armed and using the WMD stuff the USA and Germany sold him and the USA helped him use, he almost lost to Iran. He's been nowhere near that strong again since we wiped out his conventional forces in GW1. We're supposedly going to war to protect ourselves against the WMDs that was was supposedly trying to use against us (remember, Saddam WAS behind the 9/11 attacks according to the not-so-subtle hints the hawks were dropping on anyone who'd listen) even though he had 12 years to do exactly that but didn't.
Who Arms Israel? Matter of fact, who arms the world? Yeah yeah, I know; Spain and Belguim's numbers look high...until you compare the value of a Belgian franc or a Spanish peseta with the good ol' USD... Your analysis is a post hoc ergo propter hoc, which comprises a whole lot of graphical sound and fury, signifying nothing... Let's be clear; do Americans live in fear of an Iraqi/Soviet tank landing on thier heads in NY or LA, or of terrorists getting WMD - or even WSDs; hell, let's even throw in WVLD - and conducting 9/11s all over the place? I mean, its clear that UBL's cronies got their boxcutters from Saddam... Isn't it?
I saw a show last night on "noodling" up in Central Oklahoma. I had no idea what this pastime was about. I got a whole new definition of "weird". I guess I've been a babe in the woods, but this is all new to me. Next time you go out, Mike S., can I tag along? I'll drive the boat up to the holes and bring the beer.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52241-2002Dec29.html A review of thousands of declassified government documents and interviews with former policymakers shows that U.S. intelligence and logistical support played a crucial role in shoring up Iraqi defenses against the "human wave" attacks by suicidal Iranian troops. The administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush authorized the sale to Iraq of numerous items that had both military and civilian applications, including poisonous chemicals and deadly biological viruses, such as anthrax and bubonic plague.
Mary, Jesus and Joseph. I thought only Aussies were this insane. I've lived a sheltered life. Fishing up near the dam at Marble Falls will always feel so much like...fishin'. This guy is LIVIN' in the moment....
You've been claiming that we gave Saddam his WMD but you've got no real data? "Probably"? Hmmmm.... The sources of those WMD will include: 1) Sources of the biological strains 2) Chemical precursors 3) Chemical processing facilities 4) Labs and equipment for weaponizing the nasty stuff 5) Warheads and artillery for delivering the stuff 6) Technical assistance 7) Storage facilities On what basis do you say the the US was "probably" the biggest contributor?
read all about it an excerpt... According to a 1994 Senate report, private American suppliers, licensed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, exported a witch's brew of biological and chemical materials to Iraq from 1985 through 1989. Among the biological materials, which often produce slow, agonizing death, were: • Bacillus Anthracis, cause of anthrax. • Clostridium Botulinum, a source of botulinum toxin. • Histoplasma Capsulatam, cause of a disease attacking lungs, brain, spinal cord, and heart. • Brucella Melitensis, a bacteria that can damage major organs. • Clostridium Perfringens, a highly toxic bacteria causing systemic illness. • Clostridium tetani, a highly toxigenic substance. Also on the list: Escherichia coli (E. coli), genetic materials, human and bacterial DNA, and dozens of other pathogenic biological agents. "These biological materials were not attenuated or weakened and were capable of reproduction," the Senate report stated. "It was later learned that these microorganisms exported by the United States were identical to those the United Nations inspectors found and removed from the Iraqi biological warfare program." The report noted further that U.S. exports to Iraq included the precursors to chemical-warfare agents, plans for chemical and biological warfare production facilities, and chemical-warhead filling equipment. The exports continued to at least November 28, 1989, despite evidence that Iraq was engaging in chemical and biological warfare against Iranians and Kurds since as early as 1984.
Actually, I did so by posting a link to a WaPo story in another thread in response to mannyfreshtuna's denial of the same facts. I think it might have been the thread in which you also narrowly escaped the homicidal rhino I planted in your room. I said "probably" only because I don't know the exact percentage of WMDs the USA sold Saddam versus what Germany sold him. But the WaPo story was clear that it was the USA and Germany who sold Saddam the most stuff. I refer you back to the thread in which I posted the article detailing how the USA and Germany sold addam his WMDs and how we helped him use them in the field against Iran. I know you don't want to believe that the USA was one of the chief players in assisting Saddam. I wish someone else was to blame as well. Sadly, the facts speak for themselves. You can try to deny this as much as you want but you won't be any more successful now than you were in the "Rhino" thread and I suggest you stop the denial and the historical revisionism and just deal with it.
Rhino thread? The posts are typical, exaggerations supporting your notion that we are to blame for everything wrong in the world. One flagrant exaggeration in that Blum piece was that Lummus was evil for building Iraq an ethylene plant, ethylene being the precursor to just about everything plastic. Here's some more info, on the masses of mustard precursor that the US "provided" to Saddam: "There are two basic routes to manufacture mustard gas, one of which uses the industrial chemical thiodiglycol. As Iraq scaled up its chemical weapons program it found it easier to buy precursors than to make them. The easiest place to do this was in the Far East where export regulations are particularly slack. Iraq and Iran (as it tried to obtain the ability to retaliate in kind) stripped Japan of its stocks of the mustard gas precursor thiodiglycol by 1986. Iran then tried to use the large petrochemical company Phillips Petroleum as a source, but was rebuffed when Phillips became uneasy about the deal. The broker for Iran then picked the small New Jersey-based company Alcolac International as a single source. Morton Thiokol subsequently declined to supply thiodiglycol to Iraq and Alcolac then had the opportunity to also supply Baghdad. Alcolac turned out to be a reliable and compliant source for both sides until the operations were broken up by U.S. Customs in mid-1988. Procurement for Teheran was led by an Iranian diplomat, Karim Ali Sobhani, and a Czech-born German (Peter Walaschek). A Dutch national, Frans van Anraat, and a Japanese national, Charles Tanaka, were responsible obtaining thiodiglycol for Iraq. Export of thiodiglycol from the United States is restricted because of its use in the synthesis of chemical weapons and Tanaka reasoned that having one US company purchase it from another was not going to provoke interest the way a foreign transaction would. Several of the purchases for Iraq started on the road by being sold to US companies that Tanaka had friendly dealings with. " got it here http://www.cbwinfo.com/General/Proliferation/Thiodiglycol.html
*sigh* Nice try, really, but you're wasting your time. You're arguing against a deeply cherished myth among the anti-American left. Logic isn't relevant. It's just a matter of faith, and facts don't matter to them. Bush is dumb, the Supreme Court stole the election, the US armed Saddam and Osama, we're invading Iraq to steal their oil, etc., etc. are all part of their mantra. They'll turn their mothers out on the street before they'll give an inch on any of it.
Are you arguing that Bush is intelligent? Really? Ok, all the data is in. Conclusion: you're either an idiot, or you're lost in the sauce with access to a PC...
Bias. Hatred. Prejuduce. Go back to posting items from obscure left-wing raving goofballs. Bush is a very bright guy. One hell of a lot smarter than you.
Maybe he could explain to me why the graph in question starts with the year 1973. If I were cynical, I'd say that starting with a more recent date would give us startlingly different results.
Your self-pitying passive-aggressive whining is duly noted, but... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52241-2002Dec29.html Read it and weep. The USA, Germans and Brits all deliberately sold Saddam the fixins for WMDs and that the USA actually helped him use them. Now deal with it.
Well, because that's the time period in question, isn't it? I mean, would you prefer it was only the last ten years? You'd like the results even less, kimosabe.
The US "assisted Saddam in actually using the WMDs" is a bit of a stretch, even for you. Looked the other way? Maybe. Sat on our collective hands? Definitely. But assisted him in using the WMDs? Hardly. And, given the US role in Saddam's WMD plan, don't we then bear more of a responsibility for doing something about it? Oops, joe, how did this slip out? Better take your Ritalin. Or is this just some bizarre form of Iran/Contra tourette's you have?