Well, if selling weapons to both sides counts as being neutral, I guess the US were neutral. Kind of neutral anyway, since they sold weapons of mass destruction only to Iraq, while they sold conventional weapons to Iran.
As far as North Korea is concerned; I will always be more worried about the nuclear reactors Donald Rumsfeld sold to them when he was on ABB's board, than I am about some positioning hardware that some frenchman might sell to them in the future.
*cough* wasn't there a fault in win95A (a timer glitch?) that only let it run for 49 days without locking up?
Yes, it's 2^32 milliseconds, or 49 days and 17 hours. I ran my Win95 unpatched because I wanted to see it. One time I waited 48 days before I got some other "regular" crash. I never got more than 4 weeks uptime after that.
Both Americans and Russians used pencils for their early flights. While the dust is a problem, it does not become a catastrophic problem in a short-duration flight.
When the flights got longer both the Americans and the Russians switched to Fisher pens.
Killing is the least socially sophisticated way of solving problems.
Perhaps, but how do you negiotiate with extremists?
Why shouldn't the US be able to negotiate with Saddam Hussein? They negotiated with him back in the eighties, when the issue was about supplying Iraq with biological weapons of mass destruction. The US continued selling biological weapons to Iraq, even after the Halabja massacre.
Exporting biological weapons is a political decision, not a decision a company can make on their own. ATCC applied for an export permit because it was profitable, and Reagan's and Bush's administrations approved the applications because they wanted to help Saddam Hussein with killing people.
The known shipments of anthrax, botulism and other materials with biological warfare significance occured 1983-1989.
After doing my homework, it seems you are technically correct about the Harpoon. Rumsfeld only tried to sell the Harpoon to Iraq, but the iraqis eventually went with the french Exocet instead.
But what's worse? A 1960's obsolete soviet tank? A 1980's mediocre french fighter plane? Or a strain of Bacillus Anthracis?
I would go with the anthrax in this case, and Resolution 1441 agrees with me. When Colin Powell was bitching about Iraqs defiance in his speech to the UN security councel he did not complain about tanks, jets or sams. He did, among other things, complain about Iraqs incomplete reports about what they did with their american anthrax strains. Not that he specifically called them "american", but anyway.
Compiling a list of who supplied Iraq with weapons but purposely omitting all weapons of mass destruction is completely ridiculous.
I don't need to google for Osirak, I know very well that the french are also guilty of arming Saddam Hussein. Just like the english, the germans and the russians. My point is: Don't trust Rumsfeld to "do the right thing". He is a MORON. And don't trust Bush, he is a moron for appointing Rumsfeld as secretary of defence. (Assuming he wants peace. If you want war, the appointing of Rumsfeld is a very smart and functional move.)
Moreover, It takes courage to advocate and perform an unpleasent but neccessary action. It takes none at all to come out in favor of puppies and kittens, children playing in the sun, and M-16 barrels being used to hold flowers. Guess what? Bush, Rumsfield, Powell, and Blair value those things to. But these things will not happen in Iraq, or the middle east, by simply wishing them into existence.
Will they happen by selling Harpoon missiles and anthrax bacteria to Saddam Hussein, like Rumsfeld did when he was Reagan's special envoy to the middle east?
Bush got that idea from watching The Young Ones. Specifically the episode when the city counsel decides to demolish the guys' house, and Vyvyan decides to demolish the house from within before the counsel can get to it.
Don't sell biological weapons to nasty military dictators such as Saddam Hussein.
OR
If you are almost two decades late and those weapons have already been shipped from the US to Iraq, then how about this:
Don't appoint the man who sealed the deal, (Reagan's special envoy to the middle east, Donald Rumsfeld), to a high-ranking job in the current administration.
Perhaps Al Qaida would see bio-weapons research as too expensive, much like nuclear weapons research. But other nations (hint: Iraq) have the budget and the manpower to pay for mass-production facilities, as well as the movitation (increasing military ergo political power).
I don't think they're afraid of terrorist organizations replicating their research. I think they're afraid of Iraq or someone else doing that, then selling or giving the weapons to terrorist organizations.
In my not so humble opinion, the proper way to stop Iraq from making biological weapons is not self-censorship of scientific journals. It would be much more effective to just not sell biological weapons to them. Who is to blame for the Iraqi bio-warfare capability? Reagan, Rumsfeld and Bush 1. Maybe what needs to be censored is the Washington D.C. phone directory? It gives terrorists instant access to morons in high places, willing to approve weapons exports to just about anyone.
Actually, I am talking about the section "U.S. Exports of Biological Materials to Iraq" (the big section you know, which takes up half the document), where the following (and much more) can be read:
Date: May 2, 1986 Sent to: Ministry of Higher Education Materials Shipped:
1. Bacillus Anthracis Cohn (ATCC 10)
Batch # 08-20-82 (2 each)
Class III pathogen.
Saying that Reagan has no responsibility for US shipments of biological weapons is just as stupid as saying that Saddam Hussein has no responsibility for what happens with the bacteria after they arrive at the university of Baghdad.
And can you please tell me who was vice president 1981 to 1989? And who was president in November 1989 when the last recorded shipment of materials "with biological warfare significance" were shipped from the US to Iraq? Hint: It's not Reagan.
Oh yeah, and if Saddam uses some of the anthrax he bought from Reagan and Bush 1, I will definitely bash Bush 2 when he responds with a 'nukular' bomb.
Last time I wrote a 7 gig file it was an image of a hard disk. Lots of other stuff (video) can get large too. Anyway, there is an error in the headline. 2 gigs is not a limit in modern unices, only in ancient or otherwise really crappy unices.
Can you imagine what it would be like if the third world, the Middle East, all of Africa, and some spots across Asia join the fold? I can, I really can, and what a great time that will be. But we'll never get there watching on the sidelines. When the world can rid itself of despot rulers and give people like the Iraqis a future beyond Saddam Hussein's despotic predestination, we'll be closer to preventing war than anyone can imagine.
And that's exactly why it is so sad that the United States supplies despotic morons like Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction. (Yes, even after Halabja!) Until weapons inspectors are sent to the US and put a stop to the american sell-weapons-of-massdestruction-to-the-random-dict ator-who-happens-to-be-enemies-with-someone-we-don 't-like program, we will not have world peace. And I don't see that happening anytime soon.
Although to be fair I have to note that the US is not alone in this dirty business. Every one of your four examples "civilized nations" have done their share of arming Iraq.
Slashdot Mirror
You are lagging. Osama was last year's propaganda. This year Saddam Hussein is the mastermind behind the WTC attacks.
Well, if selling weapons to both sides counts as being neutral, I guess the US were neutral. Kind of neutral anyway, since they sold weapons of mass destruction only to Iraq, while they sold conventional weapons to Iran.
55758000 kilometers.
But you apparently missed the part when the US aided that same brutal dictator in killing hundreds of thousands of iranians.
As far as North Korea is concerned; I will always be more worried about the nuclear reactors Donald Rumsfeld sold to them when he was on ABB's board, than I am about some positioning hardware that some frenchman might sell to them in the future.
Yes, dupes.slashdot.org, duplicates.slashdot.org and repeats.slashdot.org are set to roll out within four hours from eachother.
Yes, it's 2^32 milliseconds, or 49 days and 17 hours. I ran my Win95 unpatched because I wanted to see it. One time I waited 48 days before I got some other "regular" crash. I never got more than 4 weeks uptime after that.
Both Americans and Russians used pencils for their early flights. While the dust is a problem, it does not become a catastrophic problem in a short-duration flight.
When the flights got longer both the Americans and the Russians switched to Fisher pens.
...shouldn't they be doing something more important? Like defeating international terrorism?
Why shouldn't the US be able to negotiate with Saddam Hussein? They negotiated with him back in the eighties, when the issue was about supplying Iraq with biological weapons of mass destruction. The US continued selling biological weapons to Iraq, even after the Halabja massacre.
Adolf Hitler felt the same way you do!
Exporting biological weapons is a political decision, not a decision a company can make on their own. ATCC applied for an export permit because it was profitable, and Reagan's and Bush's administrations approved the applications because they wanted to help Saddam Hussein with killing people.
The known shipments of anthrax, botulism and other materials with biological warfare significance occured 1983-1989.
After doing my homework, it seems you are technically correct about the Harpoon. Rumsfeld only tried to sell the Harpoon to Iraq, but the iraqis eventually went with the french Exocet instead.
But what's worse? A 1960's obsolete soviet tank? A 1980's mediocre french fighter plane? Or a strain of Bacillus Anthracis?
I would go with the anthrax in this case, and Resolution 1441 agrees with me. When Colin Powell was bitching about Iraqs defiance in his speech to the UN security councel he did not complain about tanks, jets or sams. He did, among other things, complain about Iraqs incomplete reports about what they did with their american anthrax strains. Not that he specifically called them "american", but anyway.
Compiling a list of who supplied Iraq with weapons but purposely omitting all weapons of mass destruction is completely ridiculous.
Why did the US sell weapons of mass destruction to Iraq, even after Halabja?
I don't need to google for Osirak, I know very well that the french are also guilty of arming Saddam Hussein. Just like the english, the germans and the russians. My point is: Don't trust Rumsfeld to "do the right thing". He is a MORON. And don't trust Bush, he is a moron for appointing Rumsfeld as secretary of defence. (Assuming he wants peace. If you want war, the appointing of Rumsfeld is a very smart and functional move.)
Will they happen by selling Harpoon missiles and anthrax bacteria to Saddam Hussein, like Rumsfeld did when he was Reagan's special envoy to the middle east?
Bush got that idea from watching The Young Ones. Specifically the episode when the city counsel decides to demolish the guys' house, and Vyvyan decides to demolish the house from within before the counsel can get to it.
Don't sell biological weapons to nasty military dictators such as Saddam Hussein.
OR
If you are almost two decades late and those weapons have already been shipped from the US to Iraq, then how about this:
Don't appoint the man who sealed the deal, (Reagan's special envoy to the middle east, Donald Rumsfeld), to a high-ranking job in the current administration.
In my not so humble opinion, the proper way to stop Iraq from making biological weapons is not self-censorship of scientific journals. It would be much more effective to just not sell biological weapons to them. Who is to blame for the Iraqi bio-warfare capability? Reagan, Rumsfeld and Bush 1. Maybe what needs to be censored is the Washington D.C. phone directory? It gives terrorists instant access to morons in high places, willing to approve weapons exports to just about anyone.
Actually, I am talking about the section "U.S. Exports of Biological Materials to Iraq" (the big section you know, which takes up half the document), where the following (and much more) can be read:
Date: May 2, 1986
Sent to: Ministry of Higher Education
Materials Shipped:
1. Bacillus Anthracis Cohn (ATCC 10)
Batch # 08-20-82 (2 each)
Class III pathogen.
2. Bacillus Subtitles (Ehrenberg) Con (ATCC 82)
Batch # 06-20-84 (2 each)
3. Clostridium botulinum Type A (ATCC 3502)
Batch# 07-07-81 (3 each)
Class III Pathogen
4. Clostridium perfringens (Weillon and Zuber) Hauduroy, et al (ATCC 3624)
Batch# 10-85SV (2 each)
5. Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 6051)
Batch# 12-06-84 (2 each)
6. Francisella tularensis var. tularensis Olsufiev (ATCC 6223)
Batch# 05-14-79 (2 each)
Avirulent; suitable for preparations of diagnostic antigens.
7. Clostridium tetani (ATCC 9441)
Batch 03-94 (3 each)
Highly toxigenic.
8. Clostridium botulinum Type E (ATCC 9564)
Batch# 03-02-79 (2 each)
Class III pathogen
9. Clostridium tetani (ATCC 10779)
Batch# 04-24-84S (3 each)
10. Clostridium perfringens (ATCC 12916)
Batch# 08-14-80 (2 each)
Agglutinating Type 2.
11. Clostridium perfringens (ATCC 13124)
Batch# 08-14-80 (3 each)
Type A, alpha-toxigenic, produces lecithinase C.J. Appl,
12. Bacillus Anthracis (ATCC 14185)
Batch# 01-14-80 (3 each)
G.G. Wright (Fort Detrick) V770-NPI-R. Bovine anthrax,
Class III pathogen
13. Bacillus Anthracis (ATCC 14578)
Batch# 01-06-78 (2 each)
Class III pathogen.
14. Bacillus megaterium (ATCC 14581)
Batch# 04-18-85 (2 each)
15. Bacillus megaterium (ATCC 14945)
Batch# 06-21-81 (2 each)
16. Clostridium botulinum Type E (ATCC 17855)
Batch# 06-21-71
Class III pathogen.
17. Bacillus megaterium (ATCC 19213)
Batch# 3-84 (2 each)
18. Clostridium botulinum Type A (ATCC 19397)
Batch# 08-18-81 (2 each)
Class III pathogen
The lameness filter won't allow me to post any more of it, but follow that link if you want to see more. The list goes on and on and on.
Saying that Reagan has no responsibility for US shipments of biological weapons is just as stupid as saying that Saddam Hussein has no responsibility for what happens with the bacteria after they arrive at the university of Baghdad.
And can you please tell me who was vice president 1981 to 1989? And who was president in November 1989 when the last recorded shipment of materials "with biological warfare significance" were shipped from the US to Iraq? Hint: It's not Reagan.
Sorry dude, but the biological weapons Bush 1 sold to Iraq is probably enough for a lot of people to start bashing his whole family, including Bush 2.
Oh yeah, and if Saddam uses some of the anthrax he bought from Reagan and Bush 1, I will definitely bash Bush 2 when he responds with a 'nukular' bomb.
Last time I wrote a 7 gig file it was an image of a hard disk. Lots of other stuff (video) can get large too. Anyway, there is an error in the headline. 2 gigs is not a limit in modern unices, only in ancient or otherwise really crappy unices.
And that's exactly why it is so sad that the United States supplies despotic morons like Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction. (Yes, even after Halabja!) Until weapons inspectors are sent to the US and put a stop to the american sell-weapons-of-massdestruction-to-the-random-dic
Although to be fair I have to note that the US is not alone in this dirty business. Every one of your four examples "civilized nations" have done their share of arming Iraq.