Today George Bush had the
unmitigated gall to blame his political opponents for rewriting the history of how the Iraq war began.
"The national interest is too important for politicians to throw out false charges."
As an historian, not a politician, I thought I might be permitted to throw out some true charges. The following is for the benefit of a President who claims, several years into the quagmire, that his goal was to bring democracy to that country. It's a slimmed down version of something I wrote here back in June, and which I also posted at DowningStreetMemo.com. Ultimately much of this goes back to a post by Billmon. Terre contributed research too.
How the Iraq War Began, by Bush & Co.
Phase I, Iraq has not acquired WMD:
And frankly they [the sanctions against Iraq] have worked. He [Saddam Hussein] has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors. So in effect, our policies have strengthened the security of the neighbors of Iraq...
Colin Powell, Secretary of State
Press conference, Cairo Egypt
2/24/2001
Phase II, There is no doubt that Iraq has acquired WMD:
Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.
Dick Cheney, Vice President
Speech to VFW National Convention
8/26/2002
There is already a mountain of evidence that Saddam Hussein is gathering weapons for the purpose of using them. And adding additional information is like adding a foot to Mount Everest.
Ari Fleischer, Press Secretary
White House Press Briefing
9/6/2002
We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud
Condoleeza Rice, US National Security Advisor
CNN Late Edition
9/8/2002
Phase III, We've got detailed and specific information about Iraq's WMD:
Iraq has made several attempts to buy high-strength aluminum tubes used to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon. Should Iraq acquire fissile material, it would be able to build a nuclear weapon within a year....Work at testing and production facilities shows that Iraq is building more long-range missiles that it can inflict mass death throughout the region....Saddam Hussein's regime is a grave and gathering danger. To suggest otherwise is to hope against the evidence.
George W. Bush, President
Address to the U.N. General Assembly
9/12/2002
The Iraqi regime . . . possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons. We know that the regime has produced thousands of tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, sarin nerve gas, VX nerve gas.
George W. Bush, President
Cincinnati, Ohio Speech
10/7/2002
We estimate that once Iraq acquires fissile material -- whether from a foreign source or by securing the materials to build an indigenous fissile material capability -- it could fabricate a nuclear weapon within one year. It has rebuilt its civilian chemical infrastructure and renewed production of chemical warfare agents, probably including mustard, sarin, and VX. It actively maintains all key aspects of its offensive BW [biological weapons] program.
John Bolton, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control
Speech to the Hudson Institute
11/1/2002
The president of the United States and the secretary of defense would not assert as plainly and bluntly as they have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction if it was not true, and if they did not have a solid basis for saying it.
Ari Fleischer, Press Secretary
White House Press Briefing
12/4/2002
We know for a fact that there are weapons there.
Ari Fleischer, Press Secretary
White House Press Briefing
1/9/2003
Saddam Hussein's regime is a grave and gathering danger. It's a danger to its neighbors, to the United States, to the Middle East and to the international peace and stability. It's a danger we cannot ignore.
Donald Rumsfeld, Sec. of Defense
Conference of Army Reserve Operators, Defense Department
1/20/2003
The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production.
George W. Bush, President
State of the Union Address
1/28/2003
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 W. Bush, President
State of the Union Address
1/28/2003
Phase IV, Iraq is an imminent threat to attack the world with WMD:
There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more. And he has the ability to dispense these lethal poisons and diseases in ways that can cause massive death and destruction. If biological weapons seem too terrible to contemplate, chemical weapons are equally chilling
Colin Powell, Secretary of State
Address to the U.N. Security Council
2/5/2003
Let's talk about the nuclear proposition for a minute. We know that based on intelligence, that [Saddam] 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, Vice President
Meet The Press
3/16/2003
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 W. Bush, President
Address to the Nation
3/17/2003
With each passing day, Saddam Hussein advances his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction and could pass them along to terrorists. If he is allowed to do so, the result could be the deaths not of 3,000 people, as on September 11th, but of 30,000, or 300,000 or more innocent people.
Donald Rumsfeld
Remarks to American Troops, Defense Department
3/20/2003
Phase V, We will produce the WMD as soon as we over-run Iraq:
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, Press Secretary
White House Press Briefing
3/21/2003
I have no doubt we're going to find big stores of weapons of mass destruction.
Kenneth Adelman, Defense Policy Board member
Washington Post
3/23/2003
We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.
Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense
ABC Interview
3/30/2003
Epitaph for a war
DIANE SAWYER: But stated as a hard fact, that there were weapons of mass destruction as opposed to the possibility that he could move to acquire those weapons still --
PRESIDENT BUSH: So what's the difference?
Interview with Diane Sawyer
12/16/03
Indeed.
