Cheney: WMD or not, Iraq invasion was correct

[irishgrl]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Ummmm - unlike the military campaign to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait, the no-fly zones were not authorised by the UN and they are not specifically sanctioned by any Security Council resolution

And - Clinton defended and advocated the Oil for Food Program and his administration called the suffering under it acceptable.

Nice try though.

how are no-fly zones connected with the UN?

The no-fly zones were unilaterally established by the U.S. government after the Persian Gulf War (um by Bush the FIRST), supposedly to enforce UN resolutions on Iraq. There was one big problem, however: The United Nations never authorized the no-fly zones to be established. U.S. officials have always claimed that the U.S. government, as a member of the United Nations, has the right to unilaterally enforce any resolution of the United Nations. Such a position, however, is patently fallacious. Enforcement of an organization's rules and regulations belongs to the organization itself, not to each and every individual member of the organization. link

you called it (oil for food) Clinton's program and I said it was NOT. show me where he advocated/defended it.

The "Oil-for-Food" Program.

In order to ease the increasingly worsening humanitarian disasters in Iraq, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 986 in April, 1995, which allowed Iraq to export oil worth 2 billion US dollars every six months under the supervision of the UN. This agreement was formally launched in December, 1996. In February, 1998, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1153, expanding Iraq's oil export quota to 5.2 billion US dollars every half year. On December 17, 1999, the Security Council adopted Resolution No.1284 and decided to remove the ceiling put on Iraq's oil export.

the intent was to alleviate the starvation of the people....Even if Clinton DID defend it, whats wrong with that? it was the corrupt handling of this program that exposed it for the disaster it was...and that was NOT Clinton's fault

by the way, here is an excerpt from a fact sheet from the Chinese Ministry on the Iraq issue:

II China's Stand on the Iraq Issue

After the breakout of the Gulf crisis, the Chinese government issued a statement opposing Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait, demanding Iraq's immediate and unconditional withdrawal of troops from Kuwait and maintaining that the disputes between the two countries be resolved through peaceful political means, rather than resorting to force.Based on this stand, china cast affirmative votes on the UN Security Council's resolutions on demanding Iraq's unconditional withdrawal of troops from Kuwait, restoring the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and legal government of Kuwait, and imposing sanctions on Iraq, etc. As to the UN Security Council Resolution 678 which warrants the adoption of "any necessary means", the Chinese government abstained from voting in View of China's constant stand of striving for peaceful solution.

On the Iraq issue China has consistently maintained that UN Security Council's resolutions regarding the Iraq issue should be implemented comprehensively and practically. China also maintains that as a sovereign state, Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected by the international community. Iraq's compliance with UN Security Council's relevant resolutions should be given fair and objective assessment and sanctions against Iraq should be gradually eased until finally removed. China opposes the use of force against Iraq and holds that the Iraq issue be settled through peaceful means. In regard to the question of "no-fly zone", China believes that the practices of the US and the UK to set up "security zone" and "no-fly zone" in Iraqi territory violate the UN Charter and norms of international relations and are in defiance of and trampling on Iraq's sovereignty. China expresses its condemnation towards such practices.