What He
Said |
What He
Knew |
“Intelligence gathered by this
and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraqi
regime continues to possess and conceal some of the
most lethal weapons ever devised.”
President Bush, March 17, 2003
(from official White House transcript) |
“We do not have any direct evidence
that Iraq used the period since 1998 to reconstitute its
Weapons of Mass Destruction programs.”
CIA report,
February 2003 |
On October 7, 2002 – "Iraq has
a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles
that could be used to disperse chemical or biological
weapons across broad areas." On February 6th, 2003
– "Iraq has developed spray devices that could
be used on unmanned aerial vehicles. A UAV launched from
a vessel off the American coast could reach hundreds of
miles inland."
President Bush, October 7, 2002 and
February 6, 2003 |
“The government organization most
knowledgeable about the United States' UAV program --
the Air Force's National Air and Space Intelligence Center
-- had sharply disputed the notion that Iraq's UAVs were
being designed as attack weapons" in an October 2002
intelligence report given to the White House.”
Washington
Post, September 26, 2003 |
“I would remind you that when the
inspectors first went into Iraq and were denied –
finally denied access—a report came out of the IAEA
that they were six months away from developing a nuclear
weapon. I don’t know how much more evidence we need.”
President Bush, September 6 2002 news conference
|
“The International Atomic Energy
Agency says that a report cited by President Bush as evidence
that Iraq in 1998 was ‘six months away’ from
developing a nuclear weapon does not exist. ‘There's
never been a report like that issued from this agency,
Mark Gwozdecky, the IAEA's chief spokesman, said.”
The
Washington Times, September 27, 2002 |
“Our intelligence sources tell us
that he (Saddam) has attempted to purchase high-strength
aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production.”
President
Bush, State of the Union Address, January 2003 |
“INR (US State Dept Bureau of Intelligence
and Research) is not persuaded that the tubes in question
are intended for use as centrifuge rotors…the tubes
are not intended for use in Iraq's nuclear weapon program.”
National Intelligence Estimate, October 2002 (emphasis
added) |
“The International Atomic Energy
Agency confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had
an advanced nuclear weapons development program …
The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein
recently sought significant quantities of uranium from
Africa.”
President Bush, State of the Union Address,
January 2003 |
“The CIA sent two memos to the White
House in October voicing strong doubts about a claim President
Bush made three months later in the State of the Union
address that Iraq was trying to buy nuclear materials
in Africa.”
Washington Post, July 23, 2003 |
“In 1995 … the head of Iraq’s
military industries [Hussein Kamal] defected. It was then
that the regime was forced to admit that it had produced
more than 30,000 liters of anthrax and other deadly biological
agents.”
President Bush, October 7, 2002 |
The transcript of Kamel’s 1995 debriefing
by the inspectors and the IAEA indicates he said the opposite.
After the Gulf War, he told the UN, “Iraq destroyed
all its chemical and biological weapons stocks and the
missiles to deliver them.” |
