Trump pardons former Army Ranger convicted of killing Iraqi prisoner

You're blaming Obama. How original.

First of all, Behenna was prosecuted and convicted by a military tribunal consisting of other Soldiers.

Secondly, Behenna's conviction had nothing to do with the rules of engagement, but with violations of the UCMJ.

Thirdly, and most importantly, Obama was not president when Behenna was deployed to Iraq.

Minor details, I know, but I felt like I should mention them anyway.

 

Anthrax.... for medical research... sure.
Not using your head much, ey?

I never said that, nor did you sourced something.

 

1. Yes, especially if they feared the Iranians might also be developing it as a weapon and they needed countermeasures

2. I did provide sources but you refused to look at them. But here they are again;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_invasion_of_Iran_(1980)

Here's liberation;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment_in_post-invasion_Iraq

 

Totally irrelevant to the point that the US sold Iraq the WMD's.

So what. It even says that the Iraq who are depended on oil revenues, produced less oil 3 years after the war by some 35%. The US with no good reason is responsible for the massacre of 100.000's of people there by tossing in ... was it 1 trillion dollar of bombs at it? To than give a little handout repairing what they destroyed with a couple of billions. Iraq lost FAR more with just the loss of oil revenues. That's money the US owes the Iraqi people. Besides the unrepairable damage to human lives it took.

 

No, they sold legitimate technology and Saddam used it to construct WMDs, there's no way for you to avoid that. If Saddam had been in power all that money would have gone into developing WMDs and building up his military to invade another of his neighbours.

Come on, it's okay for you to say you opposed the liberation but admit it actually worked out in the end.

 

My bet is that most Iraqis would strongly disagree that it worked out in the end.

The only people it worked out for were the war profiteers.

 

Anthrax is a WMD in itself.

^^
he gave a speech about it.

 

I'll never believe a word that man says for the rest of my life.

 

Really? They seem pretty keen on the prosperity and parliamentary democracy of modern Iraq?

 

Yes it is but it is also something used in medical research. The US did not sell Saddam WMDs, they sold him technology that had multiple uses and he used it to manufacture WMDs.

 

Why not? Colin Powell is a good man and the first African-American secretary of state.

 

Do you want me to believe that Iraq today is better off than Iraq before we invaded?

 

I call BS

 

A "good man" does not take his country to war under fraud. A "good man" does not get up and tell lies in front of the UN or anywhere else.

 

They sold him anthrax. And so yes they did sell him WMD's. They even aided Saddam with military intel to how and when to use WMD's. They US is fully complicit. You can not hide behind the dual use, when the entire world knew what Saddam was doing, yet the US kept on giving all he needed and helped out with his WMD's. People are hanged for less.

And you would be all in a massive fit if this stuff was shipped to Hezbollah by Iran. Your arguments are just so utterly shallow.

 

You mean you don't? A (deeply flawed but genuine) democracy, more prosperous, not at war with its' neighbours, not under UN sanctions, no WMDs, not sponsoring foreign terrorist groups, superior infrastructure etc etc.

 

What fraud and what lies do you attribute to this decorated war hero and inspirational African American paragon?

 

The US sold Anthrax to loads of people, you need samples of the organism to develop countermeasures. They gave Saddam battlefield intel because they didn't want the Iranians to win, taking them to the borders of Kuwait and Saudi. The US and none the other countries did nothing wrong and Saddam was the devil we knew.

Yes, because Hezbollah are a terrorist organisation who would have no other use for it other than as a terror weapon.

 

It's a WMD and the US sold it to Saddam. No matter what silly excuses you make how it can be used... point is,.. the US sold that WMD. Nothing to deny.

Iran-Iraq war had nothing to do with Kuwait and the Saudi's. The US gave Saddam the intel specifically needed to deploy their WMD's. That's going for a full cooperation in the WMD war.

Your argument contains the idea that it's alright since Saddam wasn't some recognized terrorist organisation. That idea is totally not relevant and is no excuse. So my argument stands that providing WMD's like anthrax and aiding Saddam with the intel needed to do his WMD war while knowing he rages a WMD war, wouldn't be any different than Iran helping out Hezbollah in such a way.

 

Wow then there are an amazing number of countries with WMDs in the world! These were medical samples, stop grasping. The Iran/Iraq war had EVERYTHING to do with Kuwait/Saudi, the idea of the Ayatollah's force's on their border would be an utter nightmare. The US gave Iraq intel, none of it was WMD specific.

Hezbollah are a terrorist organisation, Iraq was a sovereign nation that was a bulwark against Iranian religious fundamentalism. Give it up, there is no comparison.

 

The lies he told on TV, at the UN. And any other non-televised lies he may have told to bolster the BS story.

 

Again, like what precisely?

 

Islam + Democracy almost always deteriorates into theocracy. I think America was much better off with Saddam in charge instead of religious zealots........ much much much much much better off....... I oppose the American policy of toppling secular autocrats in Muslim lands.

What of the people we "freed" from Sunni secular rule.... the Shia? One of the most powerful and influential Shia religious/political leaders in Iraq today (Muqtada al-Sadr):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muqtada_al-Sadr

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq#2008–present

 

There aint "that many" countries in the world who are buying WMD's and dual use products .... WHILE busy with their WMD war,... AND also being helped out with foreign military intelligence,... and they got that from the west, mainly the US. And here you are claiming the US did not know,... while the entire world knew. It was discussed in the UN.

 

As a realist I think you're maybe right, it's the Omar Sharif syndrome
but people should be given the choice if possible rather than the West just giving them an endless stream of dictators, Iraq today is rated twice as free as Iran by all measures.