In my mind, the main difference is that they thought Iraq was working on the technology, not that they had it. If it’s being developed but it’s not complete, the superpower can basically wrestle their way in and go “no you fucking don’t” like an older brother ripping your favorite snack from your hands.
Meanwhile, we know damned well Russia already has assembled WMDs, that are presently sitting on ICBM rockets, with navigation targets pointed at American cities, that can be armed and fired within minutes of the order being given.
The same way the USA does (just for… Non American targets).
The whole WMDs in Iraq thing was basically international bullying.
I know this is NCD but ability to make a dirty bomb or deploy WMDs on the battlefield or in strategic theater use is not at all the same thing as MAD. Iraq had no space program, no long range strategic bombers, no nothing of the sort. (They also didn’t have WMDs at that point in time though so…). The concern was that Iraq could use WMDs to harm its neighbors, its own populace, or to enable terrorist groups to use smuggled WMDs. Even the WMD tipped SCUDS Iraq used to have were no real threat to the US troops.
I didn’t really say that the fear was that they would launch WMDs at a specific target.
I made no comment about how they would be used by Iraq forces if they did have them.
I’m just saying.
I did, however, very clearly state that Russia is primed and ready to blow up America on a whim (or at least, try to… Honestly, I hope I never find out which it is). So preventing another country from developing nuclear technology is essentially playground bullying on an international level… I’m not trying to imply that they shouldn’t investigate when a country starts building possibly dangerous military technology. However, clear parallels can be drawn to playground games like “keep array”
In my mind, the main difference is that they thought Iraq was working on the technology, not that they had it. If it’s being developed but it’s not complete, the superpower can basically wrestle their way in and go “no you fucking don’t” like an older brother ripping your favorite snack from your hands.
Meanwhile, we know damned well Russia already has assembled WMDs, that are presently sitting on ICBM rockets, with navigation targets pointed at American cities, that can be armed and fired within minutes of the order being given.
The same way the USA does (just for… Non American targets).
The whole WMDs in Iraq thing was basically international bullying.
I know this is NCD but ability to make a dirty bomb or deploy WMDs on the battlefield or in strategic theater use is not at all the same thing as MAD. Iraq had no space program, no long range strategic bombers, no nothing of the sort. (They also didn’t have WMDs at that point in time though so…). The concern was that Iraq could use WMDs to harm its neighbors, its own populace, or to enable terrorist groups to use smuggled WMDs. Even the WMD tipped SCUDS Iraq used to have were no real threat to the US troops.
I didn’t really say that the fear was that they would launch WMDs at a specific target.
I made no comment about how they would be used by Iraq forces if they did have them.
I’m just saying.
I did, however, very clearly state that Russia is primed and ready to blow up America on a whim (or at least, try to… Honestly, I hope I never find out which it is). So preventing another country from developing nuclear technology is essentially playground bullying on an international level… I’m not trying to imply that they shouldn’t investigate when a country starts building possibly dangerous military technology. However, clear parallels can be drawn to playground games like “keep array”