Hesiod is crowing about how illogical "chickenbloggers" are by saying
that there’s no evidence that Saddam Hussein would use nuclear weapons against us.
First of all, just by having nuclear weapons, it means that Saddam Hussein is pretty much given free reign to do as he chooses. He could roll through Saudi Arabia if he wanted, because he has the threat of nuclear weapons. Neither Israel nor the United States would use nuclear weapons unless absolutely forced to, and there’s no way in hell we’d use a nuclear response if Saddam decides to go on another invasion. At the same time, the nuclear calculus would mean that we’d have to consider Saddam’s nuclear arsenal in any attempt to remove him from power. So, yes, he would be able to essentially "blackmail" the West.
Second, we cannot assume that a nuclear weapon in the hands of Saddam Hussein would not be used. Saddam may have some semblance of reality now, but who know how long that might last. We certainly can’t assume that his sons are not crazy enough to want to start a nuclear exchange, and there’s no way we can assume that a weapon won’t fall into the wrong hands. If there’s even the remotest chance of this happening, then the results would be nothing less than catastrophic.
We cannot accept the inherent risks and dangers that come from Saddam having a nuclear weapon. Inspections will not be sufficient to solve the problem, and the past ten years of containment have served mainly to punish the Iraqi people while Saddam continues to build weapons. There are risks, but the greatest risks come from inaction.
