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Iraq under Saddam more dangerous than Afghanistan under Taliban: Powell
36 minutes ago
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WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) justified the US intervention in Iraq (news - web sites) saying Iraq under Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was more dangerous than Taliban-ruled Afghanistan (news - web sites).
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"For decades, Saddam Hussein played a strange but elaborate cat- and-mouse game over his WMD programs, and he played it with the entire world. He and his gang tried to blackmail others. They lied. They kept waving the specter of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons into the face of the civilized world," Powell said in an address at Princeton University in New Jersey.
"Saddam Hussein also hosted and supported several terrorist groups over many years, and in so doing he created a laboratory where weapons of mass destruction and terrorism could mix.
"In that sense, Iraq was an even more dangerous place than Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, and it would have been irresponsible for us not to have taken that danger seriously," Powell said.
In regard to weapons of mass destruction, the chief US justification for moving militaryily when it did, Powell said "We thought they were there. Our intelligence community spent a great deal of time studying it over a long period of years, and we thought the stocks were there. Our predecessors in government, and other governments around the world, thought they were there.
"Dr. David Kay, who was our chief investigator in this matter, also thought they were there before his began his analytic work last year. It was the considered judgment of the entire intelligence community, not just of the United States, but most responsible intelligence agencies around the world," Powell said.
"Dr. Kay now thinks that there may be no significant stockpiles," he added. "We will get to the bottom of this. ... There are many more documents to be examined, sites to be explored, individuals to be interviewed.
"Iraq and Saddam Hussein clearly had the human and technical capabilities to develop weapons of mass destruction. They had the programs in place. They never lost the intention to have such weapons." |
