[Azrael]

Hmmm, CNN says we "might" have found chem weapons in Iraq. Here's the article
Clicky ===> Here

Discuss.

Talking points:

1. As a rule of thumb, munitions that can be filled, i.e. with a liquid, are generally not the kind that have huge explosions. They are usually the kind that have something nasty inside that makes you puke, sneeze, bleed out your anus, or some other such nonsense.

2. They were wrapped in plastic. This, at least to me says that someone somewhere was hoping to use them at some point in the future. Many of you would say, "But Az, that still seems like a low level of protective containment, for something like bio or chem." I would say to you, "Well, you haven't seen the way they treat their conventuional weapons, have you?"

3. They were leaking. This means old, and shoddy. This means they've been around awhile. While many could, and probably will say that this shows Iraq hasn't been producing them in years, I'll refer you to point #2.

4. They were buried. This seems to show that someone made the conscious effort to hide them. Why hide them if you had planned on coming clean, and if they were already hidden when you changed your mind, why not give them up then?

5. They are only suspected to be chemical weapons. Hopefully no sorry saps made the misfortunate decision to stick his finger in the goo to see what it was. They seem to think for some reason that it is a blister agent. If some sorry sap had stuck his finger into that stuff, well, I will leave what happened to his finger to your imagination.

Now that those talking points have been brought to the fore, here is a bonus topic:

What, if any, impact do you feel this will have on the upcoming presidential election? This counts as 90% of your grade people, so I want to see some original thoughts.

Hehehe, j/k, it's only 50% of the whole grade. I just wanted to scare you guys

Honestly, at this point I don't know that it would have a huge effect on GW's popularity, as he seems to have weathered nicely without finding anything. Of course, it might give him a huge bump, but I'm not a poly-sci major, so I'll leave that to them to figure out. If it does turn out to be a chem agent, I would love some people to pool their funds to buy me a ticket so I can go pimp slap Hans Blix.
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Under construction!!!

[Verman]

It shouldn't have much of an effect on the majority of clear thinking Americans. Most people, like myself were convinced that Sadaam and his henchmen were the embodiment of evil, and had to be dealt with eventually, since they pulled up too short in the 1991. I have no doubt that WMD did/do exist, and that eventually they will be found. Too many countries sympathetic to Iraq would (probably did) welcome the opportunity to provide safe passage and storage of the devices, for what end purposes one can only wonder

Since the last administration had neither the stomach, or the inclination to face the facts and make the hard choices, and the U.N. a laughable orginazation of incompetence, completely incapable of resolving the problem, it took this man and his administration to do what was thought right.

Maybe in our childrens lifetime there will come a time when hostilites and conflicts are few and far between, thereby eliminating the need for machines of war to move across the world. I hope so. But until then, I am damn glad to where I am, and have elected leaders with the courage and determination to protect this country and its people to the extent as defined by our constitution.
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Your suffering will be legendary, even in hell.

[`RaphX]

But they're at least 10 years old!

Which means they'll be past their shell-life.

[Chen Kenichi]

If Dean continues to be the leading Democrat candidate, the election will be a landslide in favor of Bush. Dean demolished any ties he may have had with the Clintons, which ultimately cracked his foundation. When Bush wins this election, it sets the stage perfectly for Hillary. There is no Democrat ready to take on Bush, and I doubt there will be.
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[Pornstar]

It will not change a thing, other to reaffirm support for Bush for one or two people. For the majority in this country it wasn't the only or most important part of going to war over. For Blair it would be a different story.