[Article] French-German initiative to strengthen weapons inspection regime

shotamoose

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2742191.stm

This article describes a French & German plan to be presented to the Security Council, probably next friday. THe plan reportedly calls for the tripling of UN weapons inspectors in Iraq, banning Iraqi flights anywhere over the country and deploying UN peacekeepers.'

Hilariously,

News of the initiative has been greeted with anger by American officials, who said Washington had not been consulted.

utopio

A good try, but we won't be able to stop Bush. In my opinion the war will come whatever the whole world will say or do.

mike65

With the developments over the last 24 hours I'm sure Turkey is wondering why they'd want to become politcally involved with France and Germany in the EU!

I'm amazed at thier behaviour, would they seek extra protection if they were sat beside Iraq? I'd say so...

I suspect ulterior motives myself, the Franco-German Axis er allience has been pushing for an EU miltiary wing at the expence of NATOs (ie the US) dominace, maybe this crisis has been just what they've been waiting for.

Mike.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Originally posted by mike65
I suspect ulterior motives myself, the Franco-German Axis er allience has been pushing for an EU miltiary wing at the expence of NATOs (ie the US) dominace, maybe this crisis has been just what they've been waiting for.
Mike.

Fascinating theory, it's a bit of everything, saber rattling and being firm in the face of the U.S stance.
And of course Public opinion.
They definitely don't want war, or maybe it's regime change they don't want( if it's all about the Oil ) and have come up with a perfectly plausible, plan to head it off.
mikes theory mightn't be that leaky at all either.

This whole thing is moving at such a pace now.
I note, jack straw is already saying tonight, that these poisons can be produced in a very tiny room, so what difference would even 3000 inspectors make...
mm

Shinji

I note, jack straw is already saying tonight, that these poisons can be produced in a very tiny room, so what difference would even 3000 inspectors make...

Of course they can be made in a small room, if you're making very small quantities of very low-grade poisons. You know, like Ricin - a deadly poison which is mostly useful only for targetted assassinations, but which the UK media managed to scare the hell out of the entire population of London with by talking about it being "unleashed on the Tube".

That's not a weapon of mass destruction. Where's the delivery mechanism? Where's the ICBM or even the Scud that's going to rain this death on our heads? Oh yeah... Iraq doesn't have any. Damn. There goes that theory.

Now explain something to me. If you're going for this approach - making poison gases or biological agents in a small room - why would you do it in Iraq, which is swarming with weapons inspectors, on the verge of being invaded, and almost impossible to get materials into? Why not do it in, say, London or New York? I somehow doubt that the lower rental prices of bedsits in Baghdad is a factor.

This is FUD at its best. And of course Straw fails to mention that while you can make lethal toxins in a small room, it needs to be a small room packed with chemical equipment, the appropriate raw materials and people with scientific knowledge. Small rooms are abundant in Iraq. The rest of the factors needed aren't.