Title: Powell Tries to Explain 2001 Remarks on Iraq
Author: Reuters
Link: reuters.com
Date: 9/29/2003 1:52:54 PM
Source: Web
Group: Public
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell tried on
Thursday to explain away remarks on Iraq dating back to the
beginning of the Bush administration, before the United States
decided to invade Iraq.
Speaking in Cairo in February 2001, on his first Middle East trip,
Powell said that Iraq had not developed "any significant capacity"
in weapons of mass destruction and was not able to attack his
neighbors with conventional weapons.
A former Democratic congressional aide dug out his remarks this week
and has circulated them to the media.
Asked why he changed his assessment, Powell said: "I didn't change
my assessment... I did not say he (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein)
didn't have weapons of mass destruction."
"He was a threat then. The extent of his holdings were yet to be
determined. It was early in the administration and the fact of the
matter is it was long before 9/11 (the date of the 2001 attacks on
the United States)," he added.
Powell noted that his objective at the time was to muster
international support for a new U.N. sanctions system designed to
ease the flow of civilian goods to Iraq while tightening controls
over imports of possible military value.
The United States eventually changed the sanctions system but after
the attacks the Bush administration gradually shifted its Iraq
policy to one of "regime change" by military force.
The main rationale cited for invading Iraq was that Saddam Hussein
had weapons of mass destruction and might pass them on to extremist
groups like al Qaeda.
But since last March's invasion no one has been able to find any
such weapons in Iraq, nor evidence of a link between Saddam and al
Qaeda, the group blamed for the 2001 attacks.
"A lot changed between February 2001 (and the invasion), but I don't
find anything inconsistent between what I said then and what I've
said all along," Powell said.
Speaking in Cairo in 2001 after a meeting with Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak, Powell said sanctions had 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, and these
are policies that we are going to keep in place," he added.
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