Friday, October 08, 2004
Case Of The Missing WMDs

DBS's almost farcical howler with their customers' safety deposit boxes in HK makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time.Laugh because how can such a large corporation,one of the largest in Asia do such a stupid thing as destroy their customers' possessions without ample checking measures.It gives Singapore companies a very bad name.If a big name bank like DBS can make such a sily error,what more other smaller,less well-funded companies.Brand Singapore just took a big tumble in stocks.

The part which makes me cry is the almost constant rallying cry by the government for local companies to take on the world,to venture abroad and meet the challenge head-on.Well,seems like we banged our heads on the wall.And it's a GLC somemore.Makes us wonder if what kind of people they employ overseas to promote and manage our resources overseas.One could,of course,say that the DBS case is a one-off and that other GLCs like Singtel and PSA are doing well(I did NOT mention Creative at all here,Sim Wong Hoo is quite a genius and visionary.And he is also damn loyal to Singapore.).We hear about Optus and all those overseas ports that PSA runs successfully...what about those unsuccessful Singtel investments?Or those ports PSA lost money on?Personally,I think 3G is likely to be a disaster,not just for local telcos but the world over and I'm sure Singtel must have sunk a lot of money into it...but we'd see what happens.

Back to my topic of Mr George Bush Jnr and his imaginary Iraqi WMDs.We have,of course,seen loads of thrust and parry on this topic on the Iraq War between John Kerry and President Bush.And this has carried on into the debates where Kerry's main thrust that the Bush administration has not been straight with the American people is gaining him some momentum in his campaign.Even Dick Cheney has had to defend his boss's stand on Iraq.Not a good sign.Compounding this,Charles Duelfer's new report on the hunt for WMDs...or the lack of is making Bush look even more silly.And yes,Paul Bremer's claims that US did not deploy thier forces well in Iraq is another nail in the coffin...if it's a coffin.

It comes as no surprise then that after several months of furious denials that they made a mistake and indeed Iraq did not hold any WMDs,Bush and Cheney finally has had to admit NOW that the absence of WMDs in Iraq.It's taken an awful long time,hasn't it cowboys?So what made you lads finally see th light and change your minds?Surely it can't be that Kerry is chipping away at your lead because of this issue,right?They probably figured out that this issue has to have a closure or otherwise,kerry and Edwards will keep hammering away at it and might actually win the elections.Then,of course,according to Cheney,the US will be at the risk of an attack.A lot of Americans nickname Cheney as Darth Vader(I don't know why.Could be because of his voice or his face...remember when Lord Vader removed his helemt in Return Of The Jedi.Match that face with Cheney's.Eerie,isn't it?).With that statement,he sure showed his "dark" side.

What comes as a surprise to me though is that Bush continues to try to link and justify the Iraq qar as part of the war against terrorism.That after 9-11,they had to look at all plausible threats and one threat took out above all:Saddam Hussein's regime.Really?What about your other "Axis Of Evil"nations?North Korea?What about Iran?Are these any less credible threats than Iraq?Why not them instead?

It's amazing that despite millions of dollars of analytical talents and billions of dollars in satellite technologies and surveillance equipment,they had to target a country which didn't hold any probable(I said probable,not possible)threat.How Iraq can be a greater threat than North Korea or Iran bugs me.But I think have a simple theory for this.Bush had failed to get Osama Bin Laden,tried as he might.He had to switch to the next best target he can lay his hands on.Kim Jong Il is not big enough a name...Saddam,on the other hand,is a brand-name villain.Let's get him.It's actually a BONUS that he did not have WMDs(I don't believe with so much infrastructure and technology,they cannot ascertain Saddam had no weapons).You attack N Korea,they launch a nuke and you're dead.You attack Iraq,they launch a couple of scuds at you and you go hahah.Who's an easier and less dangerous target?

But Bush's "new" rationale for attacking simply amazes me.Continuing on his ascertion that the war is really part of the war on terrorism,he said that:"The Duelfer report showed that Saddam was systematically gaming the system,using the UN oil-for-food programme to try to influence countries and companies in an effort to undermine sanctions.He was doing so with the intent of restarting his weapons programme once the world looked away."This sounds like someting only Banshee can come up with.It's unsubstantiated and not proven.It's very easy to turn it all on "intent" because you don't need real evidence to prove it(so Saddam acumulated money and reportedly wanted to retain nuclear knowledge but one can't pinpoint it to wanting to restart a nuclear programme.There's no proof.)But it doesn't matter to Bush,does it?He has to stick to the war on terrorism as his trump card.It's his only strong suit.Everything else is a mess.The jobless economic recovery,the record budget deficit,unpopular healthcare plans,the increasing costs and casulaties in Iraq.He's got nowhere else to go...

Besides WMDs,the other reason offered for attacking Iraq was Al Qaeda links.Again,something that they did not have strong incrimination evidence against.Bush,of course,never admits that.I wish Bush will be straight for once and admit his mistakes wholesale.In an election year,of course,that's unlikely to happen but it only shows up his character,doesn't it?Anything to win a second term.Goodness.

I think I'm coming across as a Michael Moore.Honestly,I don't give a damn who wins or loses.US suffers,not me!I just wish Bush would come clean.He makes politics look stupid and silly.If it isn't already.In all truth,I thought the Iraq War was right.But not for the cause of fighting terrorism.It is right for the cause of liberating the people of Iraq.I might paint Saddam as a scapegoat but one cannot ignore the fact that he was a tyrant.And getting rid of him is a good thing. But Bush got into the right war for the wrong motives.I think he should adknowledge that.No matter how hard.It might actually make him look credible again.Or it might make him look like a complete dork for taking over a year to adknowledge his mistakes.

When he announced over a year ago that the Iraq War was "Mission Accomplished",I think he didn't realise it'd return to bite his butt.Or maybe he did.And somewhere in a cave watching CNN,Osama is laughing his head off...