As you know the assertion that Saddam's removal was about "stockpiles" of WMD's & nothing else is a LIE manufactured by unhinged leftists, better known as leading DNC politicians & MSM journalists. You didn't? I'm shocked! Shocked!
Well, here's proof that Bush publicly & repeatedly disclosed Saddam's non-compliance with every aspect of the Gulf War Cease Fire Agreement. No doubt you'll be shocked to learn that ANY violation of the Cease Fire Agreement (aka - UN Resolution 687) would allow for a resumption of hostilities. Compliance was unconditional PERIOD. NO EXCUSES! And Saddam agreed to those terms.
These are among the things the Bush Admin disclosed the following Cease Fire violations;
- Saddam's repeated, defiant non-compliance with UN Resolutions,
- the Secretary of State briefed the United Nations Security Council on Iraq's illegal weapons programs,
- Saddam Hussein was required to make a full declaration of his weapons programs. "He has not done so."
- Saddam Hussein was required to fully cooperate in the disarmament of his regime; "he has not done so."
- Saddam was improving and expanding facilities capable of producing chemical and biological weapons.
- The Iraqi regime was building the facilities necessary to make more biological and chemical weapons,
- UNSCOM inspectors were repeatedly denied unconditional access to suspected WMD facilities,
- Iraqi WMD scientists were threatened with harm should they cooperate in interviews with U.N. inspectors,
- Iraq refused to comply with an UNSCOM/IAEA decision to destroy certain facilities used in WMD programs
- Iraq had unaccounted for precursor materials for WMD programs,
- Saddam illicitly sought to purchase the equipment needed to enhance his WMD programs,
- Iraq used billions of dollars in illegal oil revenues to fund more weapons purchases,
- Iraq failed to completely disclose, then dismantle his WMD programs,
- Iraq and al Qaeda had high-level contacts that went back a decade,
- Saddam continued to finance terrorists,
- Iraq harbored terrorists,
- Iraq trained terrorists,
- Saddam had longstanding and ongoing ties with terrorists,
- Saddam had not released or accounted for all Gulf War personnel,
- Saddam committed massive crimes against humanity,
- The Iraqi regime bugged hotel rooms and offices of inspectors to find where they were going next; they forged documents, destroyed evidence,
- Iraq blocked effective inspections of so-called presidential sites -- actually 12 square miles with hundreds of structures where sensitive materials could be hidden,
- Iraq frustrated the work of international inspectors by firing warning shots, by tapping the telephones, confiscating their documents, blocking aerial inspection flights and barring access to sites for hours while evidence is carried away,
- Iraq refused to allow UNSCOM to use its own aircraft to fly into Iraq,
- Iraqi escorts on board an UNSCOM helicopter tried to physically prevent the UNSCOM pilot from flying the helicopter in the direction of its intended destination,
- An Iraqi officer attacked an UNSCOM inspector on board an UNSCOM helicopter while the inspector was attempting to take photographs of unauthorized movement of Iraqi vehicles inside a site designated for inspection,
- While seeking access to a site declared by Iraq to be "sensitive," UNSCOM inspectors witnessed and videotaped Iraqi guards moving files, burning documents, and dumping ash-filled waste cans into a nearby river,
- Iraq refused to allow UNSCOM inspectors to install remote-controlled monitoring cameras,
- Iraq disabled surveillance cameras,
- Iraq refused to allow UNSCOM's aerial surveillance flights,
- Iraq continued production of banned offensive weapons,
- Iraq failed to destroy existing banned offensive weapons,
- Iraq blocked UNSCOM from removing remnants of missile engines for in-depth analysis outside Iraq,
- Iraq's illicit use of the Oil-for-Food Program,
- Saddam ordered his military to shoot at American and British pilots patrolling the no-fly zones,
- Saddam's continued the persecution of its civilian population, ET AL, &
- countering Iraq's threat was central to the war on terror.
- "Victory against terrorism will not take place in a single battle, but in a series of decisive actions against terrorist organizations and those who harbor and support them."
- "The threat comes from Iraq. It arises directly from the Iraqi regime's own actions -- its history of aggression, and its drive toward an arsenal of terror. Eleven years ago, as a condition for ending the Persian Gulf War, the Iraqi regime was required to destroy its weapons of mass destruction, to cease all development of such weapons, and to stop all support for terrorist groups. The Iraqi regime has violated all of those obligations. It possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons. It has given shelter and support to terrorism, and practices terror against its own people. The entire world has witnessed Iraq's eleven-year history of defiance, deception and bad faith."
- "Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists, and every government that supports them.... Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."
- "For Iraq, the old weapons inspection process was little more than a game, in which cheating was never punished."
- "In our view, Iraq's use and continuing development of weapons of mass destruction, combined with efforts of terrorists to acquire such weapons, pose a unique and dangerous threat to our national security."
- "Our goal is not merely to limit Iraq's violations of Security Council resolutions, or to slow down its weapons program."
- "The world has tried no-fly zones to keep Saddam from terrorizing his own people -- and in the last year alone, the Iraqi military has fired upon American and British pilots more than 750 times.
After eleven years during which we have tried containment, sanctions, inspections, even selected military action, the end result is that Saddam Hussein still has chemical and biological weapons and is increasing his capabilities to make more."
- "Some have argued that confronting the threat from Iraq could detract from the war against terror. To the contrary; confronting the threat posed by Iraq is crucial to winning the war on terror. When I spoke to Congress more than a year ago, I said that those who harbor terrorists are as guilty as the terrorists themselves. Saddam Hussein is harboring terrorists and the instruments of terror, the instruments of mass death and destruction."
- "For more than a decade, the regime has answered Security Council resolutions with defiance, bad faith and deception. We know that the Iraqi regime is led by a dangerous and brutal man. We know he's actively seeking the destructive technologies to match is hatred."
- "we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."
- "And surveillance photos reveal that the regime is rebuilding facilities that it had used to produce chemical and biological weapons. Every chemical and biological weapon that Iraq has or makes is a direct violation of the truce that ended the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Yet, Saddam Hussein has chosen to build and keep these weapons despite international sanctions, U.N. demands, and isolation from the civilized world."
- "And that is the source of our urgent concern about Saddam Hussein's links to international terrorist groups. Over the years, Iraq has provided safe haven to terrorists such as Abu Nidal.... Iraq has also provided safe haven to Abu Abbas.... And we know that Iraq is continuing to finance terror and gives assistance to groups that use terrorism to undermine Middle East peace."
- "We know the treacherous history of the regime. It has waged a war against its neighbors; it has sponsored and sheltered terrorists; it has developed weapons of mass death; it has used them against innocent men, women and children. We know the designs of the Iraqi regime. In defiance of pledges to the U.N., it has stockpiled biological and chemical weapons. It is rebuilding the facilities used to make those weapons.... The regime has the scientists and facilities to build nuclear weapons, and is seeking the materials needed to do so."
- "We know that Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network share a common enemy -- the United States of America. We know that Iraq and al Qaeda have had high-level contacts that go back a decade. Some al Qaeda leaders who fled Afghanistan went to Iraq. These include one very senior al Qaeda leader who received medical treatment in Baghdad this year, and who has been associated with planning for chemical and biological attacks. We've learned that Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases."
- "Iraq.... is rebuilding the facilities used to make more of those weapons.... Iraq has longstanding ties to terrorist groups... Iraq is ruled by perhaps the world's most brutal dictator who has already committed genocide with chemical weapons, ordered the torture of children, and instituted the systematic rape of the wives and daughters of his political opponents..."
- "Saddam Hussein has longstanding, direct and continuing ties to terrorist networks. Senior members of Iraqi intelligence and al Qaeda have met at least eight times since the early 1990s. Iraq has sent bomb-making and document forgery experts to work with al Qaeda. Iraq has also provided al Qaeda with chemical and biological weapons training.
We also know that Iraq is harboring a terrorist network, headed by a senior al Qaeda terrorist planner. The network runs a poison and explosive training center in northeast Iraq, and many of its leaders are known to be in Baghdad. The head of this network traveled to Baghdad for medical treatment and stayed for months. Nearly two dozen associates joined him there and have been operating in Baghdad for more than eight months."
- "The Iraqi regime's violations of Security Council resolutions are evident, and they continue to this hour. The regime has never accounted for a vast arsenal of deadly biological and chemical weapons. To the contrary; the regime is pursuing an elaborate campaign to conceal its weapons materiels, and to hide or intimidate key experts and scientists, all in direct defiance of Security Council 1441.
This deception is directed from the highest levels of the Iraqi regime.... In intercepted conversations, we have heard orders to conceal materiels from the U.N. inspectors. And we have seen through satellite images concealment activity at close to 30 sites, including movement of equipment before inspectors arrive.
The Iraqi regime has actively and secretly attempted to obtain equipment needed to produce chemical, biological and nuclear weapons....
The regime is actively pursuing components for prohibited ballistic missiles."
- "On his orders, opponents have been decapitated and their heads displayed outside their homes. Women have been systematically raped as a method of intimidation. Political prisoners are made to watch their own children being tortured. The dictator is a student of Stalin, using murder as a tool of terror and control within his own cabinet, within his own army, even within his own family."
- "In addition to declaring and destroying all of its weapons of mass destruction, Iraq, in accordance with U.N. Security Council demands, must end its support for terrorism. As the U.N. demands, Iraq must cease the persecution of its civilian population. As the U.N. demands, Iraq must stop all illicit trade outside the oil-for-food program. Iraq must also release or account for all Gulf War personnel, including an American pilot whose fate is still unknown."
- "The war on terror is not confined strictly to the al Qaeda that we're chasing. The war on terror extends beyond just a shadowy terrorist network. The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein and his willingness to terrorize himself.
Saddam Hussein has terrorized his own people. He's terrorized his own neighborhood. He is a danger not only to countries in the region, but as I explained last night, because of al Qaeda connections, because of his history, he's a danger to the American people."
- "I went to the United Nations for a reason. One, I wanted the United Nations to be something other than an empty debating society. I wanted it to address this threat. By a 15-0 vote in the Security Council, they said, yes, it's a problem and he must disarm. But the fundamental question is, when. There's a lot of focus on the inspectors, and we wish them well. But the role of the inspectors is not to play hide-and-seek with Saddam Hussein in a country the size of California....
See, the role of the inspectors are not to play "gotcha."... The role of the inspectors are to watch Iraq disarm.... They're to report back and say, gosh, he's started getting rid of all his mustard gas or sarin gas. He started getting rid of these weapons of mass destruction. He's now getting rid of the biological laboratories. That's the role of the inspectors."
- "Iraqi's dictator has made a public show of producing and destroying a few prohibited missiles. Yet, our intelligence shows that even as he is destroying these few missiles, he has ordered the continued production of the very same type of missiles. Iraqi operatives continue to play a shell game with inspectors, moving suspected prohibited materials to different locations every 12 to 24 hours. And Iraqi weapons scientists continue to be threatened with harm should they cooperate in interviews with U.N. inspectors."
- "That's why I went there on September the 12th, 2002, to give the speech, the speech that called the U.N. into account, that said if you're going to pass resolutions, let's make sure your words mean something. Because I understand the wars of the 21st century are going to require incredible international cooperation. We're going to have to cooperate to cut the money of the terrorists, and the ability for nations, dictators who have weapons of mass destruction to provide training and perhaps weapons to terrorist organizations."
- "Terror cells and outlaw regimes building weapons of mass destruction are different faces of the same evil. Our security requires that we confront both."
- ".... Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option.
The dictator who is assembling the world's most dangerous weapons has already used them on whole villages -- leaving thousands of his own citizens dead, blind, or disfigured. Iraqi refugees tell us how forced confessions are obtained -- by torturing children while their parents are made to watch. International human rights groups have catalogued other methods used in the torture chambers of Iraq: electric shock, burning with hot irons, dripping acid on the skin, mutilation with electric drills, cutting out tongues, and rape. If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning."
- "And the U.N. must mean something. Remember Rwanda, or Kosovo. The U.N. didn't do its job. And we hope tomorrow the U.N. will do its job. If not, all of us need to step back and try to figure out how to make the U.N. work better as we head into the 21st century. Perhaps one way will be, if we use military force, in the post-Saddam Iraq the U.N. will definitely need to have a role. And that way it can begin to get its legs, legs of responsibility back."
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EJ Dionne, *not* a Righty, criticized Bush after the 2003
SOTU for offering *three* rationales for war, and asked him to pick one.
workingforchange.com
Really, the Times -- and those others who are trying to rewrite history here -- ought to be ashamed. No one denies, of course, that Bush talked about WMD, but what's inexcusable is the way the critics are now trying to deny that he talked about anything else.
Message 21273612
Inspections + Verification
The focus is on the Duelfer report, it's important to remember that the U.N. inspection regime was about providing positive evidence of Saddam's disarmament.
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Message 20809850
Message 20911765
Message 21150613
Message 21466350
Message 21466458
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UN Security Council Resolution 687
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UN Resolution 1441
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