Iraq

[Draken]

Bloody hell is this one STILL rumbling on?

Nice debate but 12 years late. Iraq was quite open about its chemical weapon capability then and there wasn't much debate about their theatre weapons as they were dropping them on Israel at the time. The best time for "the West" (let's generalise it to spare sensitive souls) to get tough on Saddam was when his army was in shreds, the Marsh Arabs were rising in revolt and coalition forces were advancing on Basra.

I as working at a defence establishment at the time and pretty much everyone thought the end to the 1991 war came prematurely. Then it was the leaders of "the West" that meekly claimed they wished to obey the UN resolution to liberate Kuwait and no more. I don't recall there being much concerted pressure on "the West" - there hadn't been time, for starters - but suddenly everyone was keen to slam on the brakes and watch as the falsely encouraged Iraqi rebels were stamped on.

12 years ago blokes with allied armies in Iraq reached for the UN rulebook, played it cautiously and let Saddam be - and were hailed as victors.

Sort of ironic that those same attributes now are being portrayed as the the ultimate in cowardice and ingratitude.

Times change, n'est pa?