A Mighty Wind...
Wednesday, May 28, 2003 · Last updated 6:43 a.m. PT
Rumsfeld: Iraq may have destroyed weapons
By RICHARD PYLE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW YORK -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction
may have been destroyed prior to the war.
While he asserted Tuesday that "we don't know what happened," Rumsfeld said, "It is also
possible that they (Saddam Hussein's government) decided that they would destroy them prior to a
conflict."
Rumsfeld made the remark in response to a question following a speech to the Council on Foreign
Relations. He was asked to explain why allied forces have not found the weapons of mass
destruction that were President Bush's initial rationale for invading Iraq.
Rumsfeld said it was known that Iraq had sizable chemical warfare programs and had used chemical
weapons on the Iranians and its own people. He said evidence may yet turn up as the search moves
farther afield.
Senior American officials in Iraq in recent weeks had also raised the possibility that chemical and
biological weapons had been destroyed prior to the conflict.
In his remarks, Rumsfeld said the United States intends to maintain a tight grip in Baghdad to "fill
the vacuum of authority" while helping Iraq to create its own version of democracy.
"We are committed to helping the Iraqi people get on the path to a free society," he said. "The Iraqi
people have this historic opportunity."
He said other countries, the United Nations and non-government organizations were welcome to
participate in the effort, and 39 countries have offered their help.
Rumsfeld cited no recovery timetable but listed a set of "broad principles" that he said the Bush
administration considers critical, "if Iraq's transition from tyranny is to succeed."
He said the administration envisions a country that does not support terrorism, threaten its
neighbors or repress its diverse population and that provides market-based economic opportunity
and an independent judiciary. He added that those "are not solely American principles, nor are they
exclusively Western."
The allied coalition will "seek out those Iraqis who support those principles" and are interested in
carrying them out, Rumsfeld said.
Some U.S. officials have expressed concern that Shiite extremists in neighboring Iran would try to
stir unrest amid Iraq's own Shiite majority, in a campaign to install an Iran-like theocracy in
Baghdad.
In remarks clearly aimed at Iran, Rumsfeld said the allies would not permit some "new form of
tyranny" to replace Saddam's. |
