It amazes me how the media and most people let the Bush administration get away with so many lies. Bush has been in power for
five years, and while he's not gone in front of the camera as often as a normal president would, he has often enough for us to have some quotes from him. Next time someone starts claiming that the CIA lied to Bush or that we didn't know there were no WMD, or whatever, here is the truth.
Bush lied. So did Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others.
Interview of the President by TVP, Poland:
We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories. You remember when Colin Powell stood up in front of the world, and he said, Iraq has got laboratories, mobile labs to build biological weapons. They're illegal. They're against the United Nations resolutions, and we've so far discovered two. And we'll find more weapons as time goes on. But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them.
Bush's Remarks at the United Nations General Assembly:
Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons.
Dick Cheney on the January 22 broadcast of NPR's Morning Edition:
We know, for example, that prior to our going in that he [Saddam Hussein] had spent time and effort acquiring mobile biological weapons labs, and we're quite confident he did, in fact, have such a program. We've found a couple of semi trailers at this point which we believe were, in fact, part of that program. Now it's not clear at this stage whether or not he used any of that to produce or whether he was simply getting ready for the next war. That, in my mind, is a serious danger in the hands of a man like Saddam Hussein, and I would deem that conclusive evidence, if you will, that he did, in fact, have programs for weapons of mass destruction.
Cheney speaks at VFW 103rd National Convention:
Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us. And there is no doubt that his aggressive regional ambitions will lead him into future confrontations with his neighbors -- confrontations that will involve both the weapons he has today, and the ones he will continue to develop with his oil wealth.
Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer:
If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world.
Rumsfeld Remarks on ABC "This Week with George Stephanopoulos":
...the area in the south and the west and the north that coalition forces control is substantial. It happens not to be the area where weapons of mass destruction were dispersed. We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.
On the other hand, I guess we should give Bush and his people a little credit for technically being possibly correct. One or two shells possibly containing
Sarin and mustard gas were found, although later on it looks like
that turned out to be false, just like everything else they said. I do believe that Bush and his people honestly thought that they would find WMD in Iraq. After all, our country did give WMD to them years ago when we were angry with Iran. However, it looks like Saddam actually did obey the U.N. and destroy the WMD that he had. The Bush administration considered the WMD claims to be a "slam dunk" so they went ahead and acted like it had already been found because they expected it to be. This isn't a conspiracy of them just trying to fool us, but rather them fooling themselves as well as us. This is why it angers them so much when it is pointed out that they lied and were wrong. Their egos can't handle it, and so they fight back viciously. That is also why we have to fight their lies even more viciously, because we deserve the truth.