[adios]

Hope this doesn't come across as a cross examination. The following questions are an attempt at a positive dialog.

Questions:

1. Were there alternatives to what Reagan did that would have prolonged the Cold War?

2. Were there alternatives to what Reagan did that would have ended the Cold War sooner than it did?

3. What were the two most significant acts of statesmanship that weakened the Soviet Union both economically and structurally? Alternatively what aspects of foreign policy led to the demise of the Soviet Union both economically and structurally?

4. How valuable are Iraq's oil assets?

5. Regarding the U.N. sanctions against Iraq, how much longer would they have lasted had the U.S. not gone to war?

6. Without sanctions in place and Saddam remaining in power, how likely is it that he would have pursued a nuclear weapons program of his own?

7. Did the U.N. sanctions imposed on Iraq "hem" him in and lay him "prostrate ?"

8. Did the U.N. sanctions imposed on Iraq lead to suffering and hardship for the Iraqi people?


Here are my brief answers

1. Of course there were.

2. That's hard to say. I think he did a very good job in dealing with the Soviets. I'd point out that Reagan did negotiate arms reduction treaties with the Soviets.

3. It seems to me that the economic power of the U.S. was used to provide a more effective armament stategy. I list the administrations that served during the Cold War:

- Truman
- Eisenhauer
- Kennedy
- Johnson
- Nixon
- Ford
- Carter
- Reagan
- Bush 41

Which ones were noteworthy in their statesmanship that led to the demise of the Soviet Union?

4. I would say at least $500 billion. Iraqi production capacity for oil is about 3 million barrels a day if memory serves. That's about $150 million a day in revenue for oil that has some of the lowest productions costs in the world. That's a lot of money to put at the disposal of military despot who seized power in Iraq illegitimately.

5. I think it's fairly clear that many nations were losing interest in the sanctions. If you disagree then I assume that you believe sanctions would have continued indefinitely.

6. Given that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program, can there be much doubt that Hussein would have pursued one as well? For that reason alone I believe he would have and I think it's fairly clear that Hussein wasn't particularly enamored with the U.S. either.

7. I don't think so. The Oil-for-Food scandel shows that Saddam was raking in lots of money from the Iraqi oil sold.

8. I think the sanctions were basically ineffective due to the corruption in the U.N. The oil didn't go for food to feed the Iraqis, the oil went to line the pocketbooks of Saddam and those affiliated with the U.N. corruption.