Rumsfeld on WMD:
"I'm not in the intelligence business," Rumsfeld said about U.S. assertions that now-deposed President
Saddam Hussein possessed chemical and biological weapons and was seeking nuclear arms.
Rumsfeld said then-Secretary of State
Colin Powell, in his February 2003 speech before the
United Nations detailing U.S. beliefs about Iraqi arms, had "spent weeks and weeks with the
Central Intelligence Agency people and prepared a presentation that I know he believed was accurate."
Rumsfeld said Bush, who made the threat posed by Iraq's weapons his main justification for war, also "spent weeks and weeks with the Central Intelligence people" before making his case to the American people.
"They gave the world their honest opinion," Rumsfeld added. "It appears that there were no weapons of mass destruction."
'I DID NOT'
McGovern shot back, "You said you knew where they were," referring to the Iraqi weapons.
"I did not," Rumsfeld retorted. "I said I knew where suspect sites were."
"You said you know where they were, near Tikrit, near Baghdad, and north, east, south and west of there. Those are your words," McGovern shot back.
"I'd just like an honest answer," McGovern added. "We're talking about lies," also mentioning the administration's assertions of prewar ties between Iraq and al Qaeda.
A week and a half into the war, Rumsfeld was asked on March 30, 2003, on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," whether he found it curious that U.S. forces had not yet found weapons of mass destruction.
"Not at all," Rumsfeld responded, according to a Pentagon transcript of the interview.
"We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat," Rumsfeld stated.
Rumsfeld on January 20, 2003, said Saddam's government had "large, unaccounted for stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, including VX, sarin, mustard gas, anthrax, botulism, and possibly smallpox," as well as "an active program to acquire and develop nuclear weapons." |
