McCain: Saddam Refused Unrestricted Inspection of his Arsenal

[reprehensor]

That's what McCain said last night at the convention.

"The years of keeping Saddam in a box were coming to a close. The international consensus that he be kept isolated and unarmed had eroded to the point that many critics of military action had decided the time had come again to do business with Saddam, despite his near daily attacks on our pilots, and his refusal, until his last day in power, to allow the unrestricted inspection of his arsenal."

Anyone able to refute with a linkable source?

McCain speech link:
McCain

[renegade000]

1. for one:

what arsenal?

[BJ]

2. Could do, but consider the source.

Every day, in every way, McCain's becoming more of a puke.

[skypilot]

3. Don't have any links...

...just a question: If on his last day in power Saddam stopped refusing to allow unrestricted inspections, then why did we invade?

On edit: Also, by Saddam's last day in power the Bush administration wasn't even asking him to disarm anymore. The deal was that we'd invade if Saddam didn't leave the country and go into exile. I never understood why that was an option if Saddam was considered to be so dangerous and to have links with al Qaeda.

[reprehensor]

4. This site has a few.

link


23 December RUSSIA, FRANCE, AND CHINA CALLED FOR MORE TIME BEFORE CONCLUDING THAT IRAQ IS NOT COOPERATING WITH INSPECTIONS. At a news conference in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov ruled out Iraq's actions so far as a cause for military action. "Any action outside the framework of Resolution 1441...can do nothing but complicate the regional security situation," Ivanov said. Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov said, "There are questions that still need to be answered, but no one really expected that all answers could be given in one document.... This is what the inspectors are for. If they have got a question but their attempts to get an answer to it are obstructed...then it is a violation and it must be prevented." Mamedov said the inspectors have not complained of any Iraqi obstruction of their work so far. Their statements "testify to the effectiveness of their work and an existing opportunity to solve the problem ... by peaceful means," he said.

Acknowledging that the Iraqi declaration contained serious omissions, French officials said the focus should be on aggressive inspections, not preparations for war. "We have said that there are zones of shadow in the declaration," a French official said in an interview. There is no question about that. But we have also said that the work of the inspectors should be the priority. We have not entered into a logic of military action. The defense minister has said there will be no French military participation in an operation without the United Nations." Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said that war is a last resort. "We must try everything before going to war," he said. {LAT 24.12.02}

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31 December ANNAN SAID THAT IRAQ HAS COOPERATED WITH UN INSPECTIONS SO FAR. "I think the inspections are going on unimpeded, and everybody has agreed that the inspectors will come back and report to the Council on January 27," Annan said in an interview. He added that the inspectors "have to analyze what they have found and they will have to report to the Council, and in the meantime Iraq is cooperating and they are able to do their work in an unimpeded manner, and therefore I don't see an argument for military action now." {NYT 1.1.03}

[reprehensor]

6. Another.

"Access has been provided to all sites we have requested to inspect," Blix told the Security Council.

link

[Old and In the Way]

5. Attacks on our pilots?

Turning your radar on to protect your yourself is an attack?

[reprehensor]

7. Well...

They did train anti-aircraft fire on US and British jets, but it was in the 'No-Fly' zone, which was not established by the UN. (Open to corrections on that.)