Some of the most irresponsible comments have come from 
    politicians who actually voted in favor of authorizing 
    the use of force against Saddam Hussein. These are elected
    officials who had access to the intelligence materials. 
    They are known to have a high opinion of their own analytical
    capabilities. (Laughter.) And they were free to reach 
    their own judgments based upon the evidence. They concluded,
    as the President and I had concluded, and as the previous 
    administration had concluded, that Saddam Hussein was a 
    threat. Available intelligence indicated that the dictator
    of Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and this judgment
    was shared by the intelligence agencies of many other 
    nations, according to the bipartisan Silberman-Robb 
    Commission. All of us understood, as well, that for more 
    than a decade, the U.N. Security Council had demanded that
    Saddam Hussein make a full accounting of his weapons 
    programs. The burden of proof was entirely on the dictator
    of Iraq -- not on the U.N. or the United States or anyone 
    else. And he repeatedly refused to comply throughout the 
    course of the decade.