Then
Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.Dick Cheney August 26, 2002
Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons.George W. Bush September 12, 2002
We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more.Colin Powell February 5, 2003
Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.George Bush March 18, 2003
We are learning more as we interrogate or have discussions with Iraqi scientists and people within the Iraqi structure, that perhaps he destroyed some, perhaps he dispersed some. And so we will find them.George Bush April 24, 2003
I'm not surprised if we begin to uncover the weapons program of Saddam Hussein -- because he had a weapons program.George W. Bush May 6, 2003
For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction (as justification for invading Iraq) because it was the one reason everyone could agree on.Paul Wolfowitz May 28, 2003
Now
In his final word, the CIA’s top weapons inspector in Iraq said Monday that the hunt for weapons of mass destruction has “gone as far as feasible” and has found nothing, closing an investigation into the purported programs of Saddam Hussein that were used to justify the 2003 invasion.“After more than 18 months, the WMD investigation and debriefing of the WMD-related detainees has been exhausted,” wrote Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group, in an addendum to the final report he issued last fall.
(...)
No information gleaned from questioning Iraqis supported the possibility, one addendum said. The Iraq Survey Group believes “it was unlikely that an official transfer of WMD material from Iraq to Syria took place. However, ISG was unable to rule out unofficial movement of limited WMD-related materials.”
Odds this is the same approach we're seeing, with regards to Social Security and the Judiciary? Manufacturing Crisis while ignoring the real issues.
That's because it was never 'a just cause', it was 'just a cause' - see the difference?
Posted by: CJ at April 27, 2005 06:05 AMIt's awfully biased of you to forget these great democratic leaders who subscribed to the same beliefs...
Presiden William Jeffeson Clinton
“If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons-of-mass-destruction program.” (“Standoff With Iraq,” The New York Times, 2/18/98)
Al Gore
“We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country.” (“Text Of Remarks By Former Vice President Al Gore At The Commonwealth Club, San Francisco,” Federal News Service, 9/23/02)
John Kerry
“When I vote to give the president of the United States the authority to use force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security….” (Sen. John Kerry, Congressional Record, 10/9/02, p. S10174)
Ted Kennedy
“We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction.” (“Remarks By Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) At The Johns Hopkins School Of Advanced International Studies,” Federal News Service, 9/27/02)
We're all about the bias here.
Which of these again used this justification as a need to go to war? To spend $300 billion dollars of our tax dollars in a country that wasn't a threat? To divert funding from our true war on "terrorism" to build up for this invasion?
Posted by: kerry at April 27, 2005 08:15 AMWhether or not Democrats said the same thing is irrelevant.
Congressional Democrats don't have access to the raw intelligence the President gets; they get a version that's heavily filtered by the White House. They believed Iraq had WMDs because the Bush administration kept presenting their fabrications as fact, and most people naively gave them the benefit of the doubt.
The difference is that now the Democrats realize their mistake and won't allow themselves to be snowed, while the Republicans keep trying to rewrite history to pretend that they didn't deliberately terrorizing people with images of imminent Armageddon, but instead claim that it was all about fighting terrorists (oh wait, he didn't have any ties to terrorists to speak of) or bring peace to Iraq (any day now) or end the torture suffering of the Iraqi people (Abu Ghraib) or any of a dozen other non sequiturs or rationalizations or excuses or deceptions or lies lies lies.
Bush wanted a war to have a war. The Democrats' only mistake was trusting him.
Posted by: Peter Dubuque at April 27, 2005 10:47 AMH.J.Res. 114 was agreed to in the House by vote of 296 – 133 ( 69%) and the Senate by a vote of 77 – 23 (77%). That would lead me to believe there were many culpable co-conspirators.
Posted by: Willy at April 27, 2005 11:45 AMThe comment of "Bush wanted a war to have a war" is about as asinine as the Republican assertion that Clinton lobbed missiles to hide an Oval Office blow job...sheesh!
Posted by: Willy at April 27, 2005 11:52 AMYO! WILLY!! LISTEN UP! :-)
POWELL, 2/24/2001: “He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors” http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2001/933.htm
“He [Saddam] does not control the northern part of his country. We are able to keep arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.” Rice, 7/29/01
“The Iraqi regime militarily remains fairly weak. It doesn't have the capacity it had 10 or 12 years ago. It has been contained.” Powell, 5/15/01
MR. RUSSERT: Do we have evidence that he's harboring terrorists?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: There is--in the past, there have been some activities related to terrorism by Saddam Hussein. But at this stage, you know, the focus is over here on al-Qaida and the most recent events in New York. Saddam Hussein's bottled up, at this point, but clearly, we continue to have a fairly tough policy where the Iraqis are concerned. http://www.whitehouse.gov/vicepresident/news-speeches/speeches/vp20010916.html