On Tue, 09 Dec 2003 14:58:40 +0000, NOYB wrote:

You need to check your history a little bit. I seem to remember Saddam
flying his fighter jets to Iran during the first Gulf War to save them
from being destroyed. They were never returned, however.

Not only weren't they returned, but some were incorporated into the
Iranian Air Force and used to attack Iraqi targets. I doubt Saddam was
dumb enough to repeat that mistake. I would also like to point out that
Iran has moderated it's tone since those days. There is a sizable push
from within for modernization and democracy.


As for Syria, they sided with Iran in that war, and only
recently reopened their border with Iraq.

They're also controlled by Baathists.

The Baathists split years ago. The Syrian and Iraqi Baathists are
competitive interests. Although, I would agree that *if* WMDs were moved,
Syria would be a more likely place than Iran.


When you get conflicting intelligence, and you haven't had inspectors on
the ground in Iraq since 1998, you're always going to "cherry pick" the
intelligence that best backs your hypothesis.

Yeah, but ... before going to war, I would suggest one needs more than an
hypothesis. Proof would be nice. Also, wouldn't it be better to let the
intelligence lead you to your hypothesis, rather than "cherry picking" to
support your preconceived hypothesis.