I believe you are technically correct that the "i word" didn't pass GWB's own lips back then. Instead, he preferred to say that the threat had "unique urgency".
However, during the drumbeat months, the threat posed by Iraq WAS repeatedly characterized as "imminent" by Bush representatives, including his own press secretary.
Direct quotes, with dates:
"Absolutely."
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer answering whether Iraq was an "imminent threat," 5/7/03
"This is about imminent threat."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan, 2/10/03
"Well, of course he is."
White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett, responding to the question "is Saddam an imminent threat to U.S. interests, either in that part of the world or to Americans right here at home?" 1/26/03
"The world is also uniting to answer the unique and urgent threat posed by Iraq whose dictator has already used weapons of mass destruction to kill thousands."
President Bush, 11/23/02
"The Iraqi regime is a threat of unique urgency."
President Bush, 10/2/02
"No terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people and the stability of the world than the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq."
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, 9/19/02
I'll end with a quote that now makes us all wince, but added to the imminent/urgent/we're all gonna die message that poured from every Administration orifice for months:
"Iraq poses a serious and mounting threat to our country. His regime...recently was discovered seeking significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, 1/29/03 |
