Since everyone has an opinion on the matter of Iraq.................

[smithers]

............give us some sensible solutions in how to deal with Iraq and it's defiance of the security council (if war is not the answer). Please no reference to other matters like the Israel/Palestine crisis or anti-american sentiment ! serious realistic answers only please !

[WaldoMcFroog]

You're hardly likely to get many sensible solutions that don't involve sorting out the Israel/ Palestine issue! It's one of the key issues that affects the whole region for god's sake! Don't ask for realistic answers and then tell people to ignore political reality!

[smithers]

So are you telling me that Iraq is playing the UN because of the situation in Palestine.



[Message edited to delete another personal insult. This is a final warning. PLEASE keep your posts clean. The b=next sanction available is to ban persistent offenders rom the site but we do that as a last resort. - AB Editor]

[Miss Zippy]

Jeez, why bother posting a question if you are just going to insult anyone who responds with an answer you don't agree with? Your attitude is no better than that of a common dictator. Didn't you learn anything from Mad for it's posting? Bring on the insults...........

[WaldoMcFroog]

No, Smithers, I am telling you that the situation in Iraq is just a wee bit more complicated that you seem to believe it is. Thank you for your kind, considered and erudite words though.

[Miss Zippy]

Crikey, forgot to tell you my serious and realistic answers after that rant. How about - a game of conkers on neutral territory, a game of scissors (best of three) or strip poker, loser is the one with only his socks remaining?

[darth vader]

I don't think the issue that people have is what we should do to Iraq in response to it's defiance of UN resolutions, the real issue is whether we should be doing anything to Iraq in response to it's defiance of UN resolutions considering there are other countries on the "not doing as they're told" list... and this is what people are getting strong feelings against - it is quite clear that Bush wants to pick a fight with Saddam because a)daddy did and b) there's oil in it - this has nothing to do with UN resolutions WMD or human rights issues in Iraq and the sooner Bush and Blair come out and admit this the quicker they will gain some respect instead of hiding behind their lies and propaganda. DV

[smithers]

Sorry for being of lower intelligence than you prince Waldo i must go and try to increase my knowledge so i can have a conversation on the same level as you!I As for Miss Zippy I asked for serious answers but you should have said helmets and not socks.

[Miss Zippy]

Ned, you probably didn't have the benefit of seeing Smither's first response to Waldo before it was deleted, which included a personal insult (and MFI's various insults against me in his own posting). I was just responding to that as it seems that there are some people who post provocative questions, knowing full well what kind of responses they will receive (based on previous posts) and then proceed to personally insult fellow AB'ers (was that the right use of the apostrophe??) when they receive responses they do not agree with. Personally, I'm all for people challenging my views and opinions (provided they can back up their own argument); it makes me think about things a little more than I might otherwise and see things from an angle I hadn't thought of and I'm sure many users of this site feel the same. What I'm against is personal attacks, that's all. Now let's get back on track and debate nicely...

[Miss Zippy]

Ned - that's ok sugar ;-)

[woodpam]

To directly answer your question if I was dealing with Iraq I would not rush into killing people on all sides in a conflict and promote years of hatred that would come back to haunt us in the way of terrorism. After all it's been 12 years since the Gulf War so we don't have to do anything in the next five minutes. We can continue with weapons inspections, act peacefully and consider our options without backing anyone into a corner they can only fight their way out of. We could even work at rebuilding trust and respect with Moslem countries we are being brainwashed into hating. We could look at the long term outcomes for the whole region and yes, that does include Palestine and the other major sanctions breaker, Israel. I challenge you to answer the question I am about to post in this section.

[PaulYukochan]

I am not sure. I do disagree with Tony Benn though.(Apart from his point about UN Inspectors in Israel) He claimed that if sanctions were lifted, and Iraq left on their own (no fly zones removed - Kurds Killed) then the Iraqi people would get rid of saddam on their own. The idea of revolution by the poorly armed masses against a state armed with modern weapons is a bit far fetched, this is even presuming that they would want to, Saddam's personality is very persuasive in a such a propaganda state. Also we cannot forget Uday - Saddam's son, who is by many accounts even more viscious than Saddam himself, and who may well take over if Saddam were to die - somehow.

[Worker]

Surely I can't be the only one to see direct similarities between the present situation and those of 70 years ago? They both tried to 'repatriate' their next door neighbour, both caused untold death and destruction to their own people, both tried to re-arm secretly; the rest of the world did nothing then as well.