Putin Wants WMD Clarification Before Lifting Iraq Sanctions
The Washington Post has an article today that puts an interesting twist on things: Putin opposes US, Britain on lifting Iraqi sanctions. It seems the Russian president is taking the position that UN sanctions on Iraq can be lifted only when the country no longer has weapons of mass destruction. Which actually sounds somewhat reasonable, since it was the possession of those WMDs that the original sanctions were based on. So now Bush and Blair are in something of a Catch-22: They want the sanctions lifted, so they can begin exporting more Iraqi oil than is allowed under the oil-for-food program. But they can’t produce Iraqi WMDs and destroy them, since they haven’t been able to find any. So the only way to get the sanctions lifted would be to argue that the WMDs weren’t actually there in the first place. But that, of course, would constitute an admission that the justification for the invasion, as presented to the UN, was itself a lie.
D’oh!
April 29th, 2003 at 2:59 pm
Pff.. Admitting the WMD weren’t there in the first place is the only option if you are going to stick to telling the truth.
There’s a much easier option: Plant some, “discover” them, justifying the war and the increase in oil output in one fell swoop.
–Aaron
May 4th, 2003 at 1:35 am
it doesn’t make sense to me. just a few months ago, the russians and french were eager to lift the sanctions on Iraq when they were the ones benefiting from the lucrative oil deals. why don’t they support lifting the sactions now that the bloodthirsty megalomaniac saddam hussein is out of power?
if these perfidious european leaders really cared about what was in the best interest of the iraqi people, they would demand an immediate end to all economic sanctions now that we know the money will go to the people of iraq instead of opulent palaces for dictators as well as chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs. the people of iraq must waste no time building a free and democratic society that you and i take for granted.
btw, of course they know the wmd exists. i’m sure they kept the receipts.