Something Condi said -- fact check needed

[maha]

In Chicago last week, she said:

"Saddam is the only tyrant of our time not only to possess weapons of mass destruction ... but to use them in acts of mass murder."

Hm, comments?

[don jose]

1. so saddam is (was) the only tyrant to posess any WMD?

"Saddam is the only tyrant of our time not only to possess weapons of mass destruction ... but to use them in acts of mass murder."

well the first statement is patently ridiculous. dont most tyrants own weapons of mass destruction of some sort? on the second point saddam did use poison gas to murder kurds.

[ixion]

3. yeah, poison gas sold by and used with US blessings

:eyes:

[maha]

5. Of course that's absurd.

The first tyrant that popped into my head was Kim Jung Il of North Korea, who already has a mighty arsenal that probably includes nukes. And he announced last week that he has enough processed plutonium to make six nuclear weapons right away. Kim Jung Il has also killed millions of his own people.

But the catch is he didn't use weapons to kill them -- he let them starve to death. So in Condi World maybe that doesn't count. By the same token, of course, the 3,000 dead of September 11 don't count because the ultimate weapons probably were box cutters ...

And what about some of the mass slaughters in Africa in recent years? And what about China?

I just think Condi's leaving a lot of stuff out here.

[mhr]

10. Not True, Do a Google Search on This and You Will Learn

that there is high probability that the Kurds where killed by Iranian Gas not Iraqi gas.

Alternatively, one theory goes that Iraqi gas was meant for Iranians that then blew back over Kurdish villages.

I can find no credible sources that suggest Saddam deliberately gassed the Kurds, only partisan arguments making this claim.

Apparently there is serious debate within the intelligence community on this issue and if Saddam ever did Gas the Kurds.

I used to have a link but it is missing.

The article appeared in the NY times about a year ago from a former CIA analyst.

I have come to believe that it is all just part of the misinformation campaign to lead the American Sheeple blindly in the neo-con direction.

[treepig]

11. furthermore, the "Iraqi gas" you refer to

was really, "made-in-the-USA gas"

i'm quite doubtful that saddam ever succesfully produced any wmd, any that he had, all came from us.

[Cat Atomic]

2. Well, a more complete statement might be...

"Saddam is the only tyrant of our time not only to possess weapons of mass destruction, but to use them with our consent".

[kcwayne]

4. Germany, Iran and Japan used WMD

Germany used mustard and chlorine gas in WW1. Kaiser Wilhelm was conidered to be a tyrant by the US, France, and England. (Of everyone used these weapons so if you are using logic, all the leaders were tyrants)

Iran used various chemical WMD weapons against Iraq in the Iran/Iraq war. The Ayatollah was labeled a tyrant.

Japan used chemical and biological agents in Mongolia and Korea in the second world war. The Japanese government, lead by their war ministers were considered to be tyrants.

[Red_Viking]

6. Hiroshima, anyone?

We're the only country on earth to use a nuke to kill people. And we did it twice.

RV

[morebunk]

7. She lied, knowing full well that Aerial Sharon is still a tyrant who uses

WMDs. Also, in my time, the US has been the only nation to ever use a nublear weapon (twice) and innocent civilians. No other country has done this yet. And speaking of tyrants who killed their own people, we supported some of them--Shah of Iran, Noriega, Saddam, Batista (Cuba)...

[ablbodyed]

9. And biological agents....

on Cuba. And remember the exploding cigar for Castro? Though tobacco is a weapon of mass distruction in and of itself.

[Tyler Durden]

8. There is doubt about Iraq gassing the Kurds.

Theoretically, we supplied Iraq with blister and incapacitation war gases (think SUPER TEAR GAS), but not BLOOD AGENTS (thin SARIN, Cyanide-acting agents, Nerve Agents).

Who DID have "blood agents"? Iran. What was used on the Kurds? Mostly blood agents.

Don't have the links right now, and too depressed to look.

[jayfish]

12. Here Are A Few Links.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60816FC3D5C0C728FDDA80894DB404482

Link To Un-Abridged Story Via Google

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=A+War+Crime+Or+an+Act+of+War%3F&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=c0d49f12.0302042351.ffb67ee%40posting.google.com&rnum=2

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A52241-2002Dec29¬Found=true

Jay

[screaming_meme]

13. Japan waged WMD attacks on te Chinese

Plague bombs.