No Apologies, No Mistakes, No WMD

Jeff Alworth

I know we're an Oregon-focused blog, so I try to stay away from national politics and foreign policy.  But when wars are waged, they affect us at home.  The 25 Oregonians killed in Iraq and the 31 injured there make it a local issue.  So let us review how we got here--and let us consider seriously whether our local citizens have been well-served by the leaders who sent us to war.

Early 2003
"The dictator of Iraq has got weapons of mass destruction.... We know what it means to disarm; we know what a disarmed regime does. We know how a disarmed regime accounts for weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein is not disarming, like the world has told him he must do."
-- George W. Bush, January 22, 2003

"Here you see 15 munitions bunkers in yellow and red outlines. The four that are in red squares represent active chemical munitions bunkers.   How do I know that? How can I say that? Let me give you a closer look. Look at the image on the left. On the left is a close-up of one of the four chemical bunkers. The two arrows indicate the presence of sure signs that the bunkers are storing chemical munitions. The arrow at the top that says "security" points to a facility that is a signature item for this kind of bunker. Inside that facility are special guards and special equipment to monitor any leakage that might come out of the bunker."
-- Colin Powell, to the UN, February 5, 2003

"Great Britain, Spain, and the United States have introduced a new resolution stating that Iraq has failed to meet the requirements of Resolution 1441. Saddam Hussein is not disarming. This is a fact. It cannot be denied."
-- Bush, March 6, 2003 

"Let's talk about the nuclear proposition for a minute. We know that based on intelligence, that he has been very, very good at hiding these kinds of efforts. He's had years to get good at it and we know he has been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons. And we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons."
-- Dick Cheney, March 16, 2003, Meet the Press

During the War
"Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly."
-- Ari Fleischer, March 21, 2003

"We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."
-- Donald Rumsfeld, March 30, 2003

Following the War
"For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue -- weapons of mass destruction -- because it was the one reason everyone could agree on."
-- Paul Wolfowitz, May 28, 2003

"I don't know anybody that I can think of who has contended that the Iraqis had nuclear weapons."
-- Donald Rumsfeld, June 24, 2003

"First, I take responsibility for putting our troops into action. And I made that decision because Saddam Hussein was a threat to our security and a threat to the security of other nations.

"I say that because he possessed chemical weapons and biological weapons. I strongly believe he was trying to reconstitute his nuclear weapons program. And I will remind the skeptics that in 1991, it became clear that Saddam Hussein was much closer to developing a nuclear weapon than anybody ever imagined. He was a threat. I take responsibility for dealing with that threat."
-- Bush, July 17, 2003

"I said, 'We know they're in that area.' I should have said, 'I believe they're in that area.' Our intelligence tells us they're in that area, and that was our best judgment."
-- Rumsfeld, September 10, 2003

"We are seeking all the facts. Already the Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations. Had we failed to act, the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day."
-- Bush, State of the Union, January 21, 2004

"Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere ... nope, no weapons over there ... maybe under here?"
-- Bush, March 24, 2004, joking at the Correspondents' Dinner

And Finally, the Truth
"The White House acknowledged Wednesday that its two-year hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq had ended without finding the stockpiles that President Bush cited as a justification for war against Saddam Hussein.

"'I felt like we'd find weapons of mass destruction — like many here in the United States, many around the world,' Bush said. 'We need to find out what went wrong in the intelligence gathering…. Saddam was dangerous and the world is safer without him in power.'

"White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said, 'Based on what we know today, the president would have taken the same action because this is about protecting the American people.'"
-- LA Times, this morning

By Jeff Alworth Jan. 13, 2005