… there is growing evidence that the general public was not being told the truth as far as Iraqi weapons of mass destruction are concerned. While this might not be a problem in the US - where apparently the public doesn’t expect to hear the truth from its own government - it is getting more and more of a problem for all those countries which were only too willing to trump up the charges against Iraq to help the US go to war. Tony Blair’s political fate is directly tied to finding the whole affair.
Here’s a nice list of quotes about the issue:
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 Bush (September 12, 2002)
If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world. - Ari Fleischer (December 2, 2002)
We know for a fact that there are weapons there. - Ari Fleischer (January 9, 2003)
Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. - George Bush (January 28, 2003)
We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more. - Colin Powell (February 5, 2003)
We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons - the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have. - George Bush (February 8, 2003)
So has the strategic decision been made to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction by the leadership in Baghdad? I think our judgment has to be clearly not. - Colin Powell (March 8, 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 17, 2003)
Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly … all this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes. - Ari Fleischer (March 21, 2003)
There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. As this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them. - Gen. Tommy Franks (March 22, 2003)
I have no doubt we’re going to find big stores of weapons of mass destruction. - Defense Policy Board member Kenneth Adelman (March 23, 2003)
One of our top objectives is to find and destroy the WMD. There are a number of sites. - Pentagon Spokeswoman Victoria Clark (March 22, 2003)
We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad. - Donald Rumsfeld (March 30, 2003)
Obviously the administration intends to publicize all the weapons of mass destruction U.S. forces find - and there will be plenty. - Neocon scholar Robert Kagan (April 9, 2003)
I think you have always heard, and you continue to hear from officials, a measure of high confidence that, indeed, the weapons of mass destruction will be found. - Ari Fleischer (April 10, 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)
There are people who in large measure have information that we need … so that we can track down the weapons of mass destruction in that country. - Donald Rumsfeld (April 25, 2003)
We’ll find them. It’ll be a matter of time to do so. - George Bush (May 3, 2003)
I am confident that we will find evidence that makes it clear he had weapons of mass destruction. - Colin Powell (May 4, 2003)
I never believed that we’d just tumble over weapons of mass destruction in that country. - Donald Rumsfeld (May 4, 2003)
I’m not surprised if we begin to uncover the weapons program of Saddam Hussein - because he had a weapons program. - George Bush (May 6, 2003)
U.S. officials never expected that “we were going to open garages and find” weapons of mass destruction. - Condoleeza Rice (May 12, 2003)
I just don’t know whether it was all destroyed years ago - I mean, there’s no question that there were chemical weapons years ago - whether they were destroyed right before the war, (or) whether they’re still hidden. - Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, Commander 101st Airborne (May 13, 2003)
Before the war, there’s no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical. I expected them to be found. I still expect them to be found. - Gen. Michael Hagee, Commandant of the Marine Corps (May 21, 2003)
Given time, given the number of prisoners now that we’re interrogating, I’m confident that we’re going to find weapons of mass destruction. - Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff (May 26, 2003)
They may have had time to destroy them, and I don’t know the answer. - Donald Rumsfeld (May 27, 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)