Just Think - News Archive

Here's what the President said about Iraq:

Office of the Press Secretary
March 16, 2003 (three days before invasion)

President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat
The dictator of Iraq and his weapons of mass destruction are a threat to the security of free nations. He is a danger to his neighbors. He's a sponsor of terrorism.

Here's what former weapons inspector Scott Ritter said six months before invasion

CNN
September 9, 2002
Former weapons inspector: Iraq not a threat

In an interview after the speech, Ritter denied allegations that the Iraqis had interfered with the inspection process.

RITTER: What I'm very certain of is that the Bush administration has not provided any evidence to substantiate its allegations that Saddam Hussein's regime is currently pursuing weapons of mass destruction programs or is in actual possession of weapons of mass destruction.

Based upon my experience as a weapons inspector from 1991 to 1998, while we had serious concerns about unaccounted aspects of Iraq's weapons program, we did ascertain a 90 [percent] to 95 percent level of disarmament that included all of the production equipment and means of production used by Iraq to produce these weapons.

So if Iraq has weapons today, like President Bush says, clearly they would have had to reconstitute these capabilities since December 1998. And this is something that the Bush administration needs to make a better case for, especially before we talk about going to war.

The inspectors were able to do their task of disarming Iraq without any obstruction by Iraq.

Let's keep in mind that from 1994 to 1998, the weapons inspectors carried out ongoing monitoring inspections of the totality of Iraq's industrial infrastructure. And at no time did Iraq obstruct this work.

If the United States shreds international law, rips up the United Nations charter and intervenes against Iraq unilaterally, we will be redefining the entire way the world chooses to deal with situations of this sort. What will then stop India and Pakistan from going to war? What will stop China from intervening in Taiwan? There will be no guarantees. There will be no mechanism. We will be unleashing chaos.

All of these were before the invasion as well:

• USA Today 15 Aug 2002 - U.S. intelligence cannot say conclusively that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction, an information gap that is complicating White House efforts to build support for an attack on Saddam's Iraqi regime.
  


• CNN 27 Jan 2003 - Chief U.N. Weapons Inspector Hans Blix says, "Mr. President, to conclude, we have to date found no evidence that Iraq has revived its nuclear weapon program since the elimination of the program in the 1990s."
  


• Associated Press March 7, 2003 - Blix: Iraq Actively Cooperating to Disarm
  


• Secretary of State Colin Powell - 24 Feb 2001 (press conference speaking of Saddam Hussein), "He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors. So in effect, our policies have strengthened the security of the neighbors of Iraq."
  


• CNN Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer - 29 July 2001, Condoleezza Rice states in her interview, "But in terms of Saddam Hussein being there, let's remember that his country is divided, in effect. He does not control the northern part of his country. We are able to keep arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt."
  

So, anyone that was paying attention knew before the war that Iraq didn't have WMDs.