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Rep. Nick Rahall: Waiting to Hear From Saddam Hussein
The New York Times ^
| 09/24/2002
| NICK. J. RAHALL II
Posted on 09/23/2002 9:20:54 PM PDT by Pokey78
WASHINGTON On the packed flight from Damascus to Baghdad I kept rehearsing the message I hoped to deliver personally to Saddam Hussein: The only chance you have to avert the further devastation and suffering of your country and people is to allow unconditional and unfettered access by United Nations weapons inspectors. Period. Full cooperation. No gimmicks.
I felt the message and the moment were ripe if the fruits of peace were to be harvested. I was not going to vote to put American soldiers in harm's way without making this last effort. As an Arab-American member of Congress and as someone who has traveled extensively in the region and who has questioned American policy in the Middle East under Republican and Democratic presidents I felt that I was a credible messenger.
I was traveling to Iraq as part of a delegation sponsored by the Institute for Public Accuracy, a nonpartisan group. We were met at the airport by representatives of the foreign minister's office. Our hosts wanted to take us immediately to a facility that had been identified as a possible nuclear weapons factory they wanted to prove that the charges were false. I declined, stating that I was not a weapons inspector and was not going to be put in the position of vouching for anyone's innocence. The rest of the group refused to go, too.
Things went downhill from there. Our satellite phone was confiscated and our cameras, after nearly being impounded, were painstakingly "registered." V.I.P. treatment meant being the last ones through security. We soon learned that we would not be meeting with Mr. Hussein and that my speech before the Iraqi National Assembly had been canceled. So much for direct communication.
Over the next two days, I did my best to share my message with anyone who would listen. We talked with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and the speaker of the national assembly, who said, "We are damned if we do, damned if we don't, as your country says. It doesn't matter: we'll get hit."
On Saturday night, after our meeting with Mr. Aziz, we had dinner at a beautiful outdoor restaurant by the Tigris River. A soft breeze carried the smell of local fish roasting over an open flame. The strains of popular Arab music filtered out of a nearby house. The scene of Baghdad at dusk its calm moved me, and I was saddened at the thought of the devastation war would bring.
I was further moved the next night, when we had the opportunity to meet quietly with some people in a private home. As we sat in a courtyard,they agreed with us in their own way that Mr. Hussein must be removed, though they felt that America should not be the agent of that change. Still, they were pessimistic about the future. Mr. Hussein, they said, did not hear their voices. After two days in Baghdad, I know the feeling.
Nick J. Rahall II, a Democrat, is a representative from West Virginia.
TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; US: West Virginia
KEYWORDS: rahall
1
posted on
09/23/2002 9:20:54 PM PDT
by
Pokey78
To: Pokey78
what a pure dumb-a$$...I didn't know Rahall was an so-called arab-american. I'll be sure to send even more money into the WVA to beat him this time and the next time. In fact, we need to key on his race to make sure he's strongly challenged and defeated the next time.
Sounds like to be he's either completely stupid or a enemey stooge.
To: Pokey78
Scott Ritter got better treatment than that.
3
posted on
09/23/2002 9:26:00 PM PDT
by
umgud
To: CreekerFreeper
I also thought he was a dumb ass and this is the 1st I heard he was Arab.
4
posted on
09/23/2002 9:27:20 PM PDT
by
umgud
To: Pokey78
I was further moved the next night, when we had the opportunity to meet quietly with some people in a private home. As we sat in a courtyard,they agreed with us in their own way that Mr. Hussein must be removed, though they felt that America should not be the agent of that change. Still, they were pessimistic about the future. Damn straight they are pessimistic. Mr. Rahall, you just signed their death warrent with this piece of political posturing.
To: umgud
"Mr. Hussein, they said, did not hear their voices. After two days in Baghdad, I know the feeling."
So, he's comparing Hussein's desire not to hear him to that of the suffering people? Perfect affect for the NYTimes crowd.
6
posted on
09/23/2002 9:35:24 PM PDT
by
Shermy
To: flying Elvis
Does he have a safe seat???
7
posted on
09/23/2002 9:39:13 PM PDT
by
Shermy
To: Pokey78
8
posted on
09/23/2002 9:40:09 PM PDT
by
mhking
To: Pokey78
Well, one less Baghdad family to eat food. Stupid politician. No one attributable at all talks in Iraq of removing Hussain without expecting termination. Guess the politician felt he was important enough to get away with signing their death warrant with his "loose lips sink Iraqi's." Sigh. What an idiot.
9
posted on
09/23/2002 9:41:14 PM PDT
by
Quix
To: flying Elvis
Apparently he's running unopposed.
10
posted on
09/23/2002 9:43:02 PM PDT
by
Shermy
To: Pokey78
I've listened to Rahall speak on television interviews and wondered if he was an American...saw he was a politician and then realized his problem....he's another demOrat....and that explains it. I think.
11
posted on
09/23/2002 9:45:04 PM PDT
by
Cindy
To: Pokey78
Also check this out about Terrorist Symp Demoncrat Rahall:
Newsmax.com | 9/22/02 | Carl Limbacher
Sunday, Sept. 22, 2002 2:11 p.m. EDT
House Dem: White House to Blame for Iraqi Inspection Switch
After visiting Iraq last week, Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., blamed the Bush administration on Sunday for Baghdad's decision to impose limits on proposed weapons inspections after Iraq first told the United Nations those inspections would be "unfettered."
"At first it appeared [the Iraqi pledge] was a step in the right direction with the first step they announced earlier this week," Rahall told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg.
But, the West Virginia Democrat said, the Bush administration's reaction to the Iraqi offer amounted to "slamming the door in their face" by saying that even unfettered inspections would make no difference.
"They've seen statements in the past from Cheney, from Rumsfeld et al., that say inspectors don't matter, they're going to bomb anyway," the West Virginia Democrat complained to Malzberg.
"I can see what [Baghdad was] looking for," he explained. "They were looking for some light at the end of the tunnel. Because Iraqi feeling - feeling from the leadership and feeling from the people on the street - is basically they feel that they're damned if they do and they're damned if they don't.
"I truly believe that when they did not see any light at the end of the tunnel when they issued that first statement, that probably caused them to go backwards and start the game of trickery again," he added.
Rahall said that while in Baghdad last week, he hoped to secure a personal meeting with Saddam Hussein to encourage the Iraqi dictator to make a public pledge to open his schools, mosques, hospitals and presidential palaces to inspectors.
But when Saddam would not agree, Iraqi officials instead offered Rahall a chance to inspect suspected weapons sites.
He said no. "Look, I'm not a weapons inspector," the West Virginia Democrat said he told his hosts. "I wouldn't know nuclear power from powdered sugar."
Rahall told Malzberg that he would not support a resolution giving President Bush the authority to attack Iraq, complaining that "it gives the president too broad authority; it does not limit him to Iraq."
The West Virginia Democrat also insisted there was no link between Saddam and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network despite the accounts from multiple Iraqi defectors who claim otherwise.
"I've been in the CIA briefings, the DIA briefings," Rahall told WABC. "There is no definitive - no conclusive proof of any link between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein." (See: Salman Pak: Iraq's Smoking-Gun Link to 9/11?)
Rep. Rahall also defended the Palestinian intifada, hinting that terrorist attacks against Israel were a legitimate "resistance" to an occupying army.
"Some of those instances ... they truly are a resistance against occupied lands, against a country [Israel] who's also violated U.N. resolutions," he explained.
To: umgud
Employees usually receive better treatment then outsiders.
13
posted on
09/23/2002 9:58:15 PM PDT
by
Brytani
To: CreekerFreeper
I'll be sure to send even more money into the WVA to beat him this time and the next time. In fact, we need to key on his race to make sure he's strongly challenged and defeated the next time. Well, it sure won't be in 2002;. He's my Congressman, and his GOP competition is a guy nobody's ever heard of named Paul E. Chapman. As far as I can tell, he doesn't even have a web site. I don't even think RAHALL has a web site, that's how confident he is of reelection.
14
posted on
09/23/2002 10:24:15 PM PDT
by
Timesink
To: umgud
It is difficult, if not impossible, to tell the difference between a democrat's point of view and an arab's. They are virtually identical.
To: Brytani
re post#13: "Employees usually receive better treatment then outsiders."
That's true.
16
posted on
09/23/2002 11:42:15 PM PDT
by
Cindy
To: GHOST WRITER
"Look, I'm not a weapons inspector," the West Virginia Democrat said he told his hosts. "I wouldn't know nuclear power from powdered sugar."
Or his a$$ from a hole in the wall, apparently.
What a scode.
17
posted on
09/24/2002 12:06:06 AM PDT
by
rockrr
To: CreekerFreeper; Congressman Billybob
I think that I read his family hails from Lebanon. I don't know he is an Arab based on that pedigree. He is, however, dumber than a box of rocks. Congressman Billy Bob has noted his affection for adult beverages.
18
posted on
09/24/2002 12:15:06 AM PDT
by
Movemout
To: Movemout
Rahall's Institute for Public Accuracy is a left-wing pro-Arab "think tank".
19
posted on
09/24/2002 4:16:56 AM PDT
by
gaspar
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