It read : "US: We have 'Smoking Gun'".
How ironic that is.... the US admits to holding a smoking gun? I'm sure that is so much closer to the truth than most of us imagine. Call me a conspiracy theorist, because I'll be the first to admit it. I am as cynical as the day is long when is comes to the events leading up to, and resulting from the September 11th attacks, and I firmly believe that any link (other than a mutual dislike of the US) between Iraq and bin Laden/al Qaeda is either a fabrication, or at the least, pure speculation.
The US should leave old Saddam alone - sure I'm not excusing any of his acts of inhumanity against Kuwait, the Kurds and others, but he's like Gadhafi, he's settled down somewhat in his old age. I would anticipate that Saddam's successor(s) (potentially his son(s)) could be a much worse prospect than old Saddam himself.
And as for bin Laden, don't get me started on that..... ... I feel that it is just too weird that only a few decades ago, the US, specifically the CIA, were working side-by-side with old Osama and his kin in Afghanistan, fighting the Soviets. And yet now, bin Laden lauches a major offensive against the US and becomes their prime motivation for going to war against all and sundry?? It doesn't add up.
I envisage something like this:
- bin Laden and the CIA form a strong relationship in Afghanistan fighting the Soviets back in the day. They keep in contact with each other over the years, swapping intelligence etc. Now, the US develops concern regarding the sustainablilty of their domestic oil reserves, and turns to the Middle East for a solution. Since most of the Middle Eastern countries are Muslim controlled, they are opposed(often violently) to anthing remotely US related, so any sort of peaceful negotiation over oil is simply not going to happen. The alternative is, of course, non-peaceful negotiations ie: war.
- How do you start a war without looking like the bad guy? - you get a scapegoat. The US either instigate, or at least allow the attacks on the WTC (the Pentagon attacks are another story - there is just so much dodginess and so many seemingly 'coincidental' events surrounding Sept 11 that makes it highly unlikely that it took the US by surprise - but again, another story) and then, after promises of protection and large sums of money, they ask bin Laden(as the scapegoat) to own up to the attacks, giving them an excuse to race about Afghanistan in helicopters and jeeps, establishing a US presence there in the East. Then the US fabricate some kind of a link between al Qaeda and Iraq, giving them an excuse to point fingers at Saddam, and, since they have already subdued the volitile Taleban forces in Afghanistan, the US feel that an offensive against Iraq might go unhindered, at least to an acceptable degree. Since they are now pointing fingers at Iraq, they decide to go and check out their weapons, and make sure that they are not hiding anything. Saddam doesn't want another pasting, so he's keeping his nose clean, but thats not what the US want, so they make up some story about hidden weapons of mass destruction, and when the weapons inspection teams don't find them, they declare that he must be hiding them somewhere, and so threaten war if he(Saddam) doesn't sort it out. Of course there are no weapons of mass destruction, so Saddam is now in a pickle. And it looks like the war is going ahead.
- So what I'm saying is, I wouldn't be surprised if this whole charade is all US-instigated, and is simply a bid to grab some Middle Eastern oil and give their armed forces a bit of 'target practice' in the process.
Call me cynical - but I am.
Better do some work now - you all have a great day.
