| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"ronin" |
| Date: |
03 Oct 2003 05:16:52 PM |
| Object: |
Republicans Kill for Lies, And Keep Lying - No WMDs=No Imminence |
Bush defends Iraq war after weapons report
http://us.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/10/03/sprj.irq.kay/index.html
Friday, October 3, 2003 Posted: 2:20 PM EDT (1820 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In the face of mounting criticism after the top U.S.
weapons hunter in Iraq reported finding no weapons of mass destruction so
far, President Bush on Friday defended his decision to go to war, saying
"the world is better off" with Saddam Hussein out of power.
Bush told reporters that Iraq Survey Group leader David Kay's interim report
to Congress confirms that Saddam's regime "was a threat -- a serious
danger."
"The report states that Saddam Hussein's regime had a clandestine network of
biological laboratories, a live strain of deadly agent botulinum,
sophisticated concealment efforts and advanced design work on prohibited
longer-range missiles," Bush said.
Quoting from the document, the president said, "Iraq's WMD programs spanned
more than two decades, involved thousands of people, billions of dollars and
was elaborately shielded by security and deception operations that continued
even beyond the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom."
Appearing Friday with Bush, former New York Police Commissioner Bernard
Kerik, a onetime adviser in Iraq, said, "In my opinion, there was one weapon
of mass destruction in Iraq, and it was Saddam Hussein."
Bush dismissed reports of polls showing declining support for his policies
in Iraq.
"I don't make decisions based upon polls," Bush said. "I make decisions
based upon what I think is important to the security of the American people.
And I'm not going to forget the lessons of 9/11. ... This administration
will deal with gathering dangers where we find them."
He added, "Sometimes the American people like the decisions I make,
sometimes they don't. But they need to know I make tough decisions, based
upon what I think is right, given the intelligence I know, in order to do my
job, which is to secure this country and to bring peace."
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services
Committee, said he was concerned that no weapons of mass destruction have
been found.
It's "an affirmation that this administration or the intelligence community
or both exaggerated the evidence that they had in order to reach a
conclusion or to get the public to reach a conclusion and the Congress as
well," the Michigan Democrat said.
But Secretary of State Colin Powell backed up the president, saying, "We're
even more convinced with the Kay report that we did the right thing."
"This was a regime that was determined ... to have the capability to develop
chemical, biological and nuclear weapons if allowed to do so."
After holding closed-door meetings Friday with the Senate Armed Services
Committee, Kay told reporters that his team had documented two dozen cases
where Iraq had hidden equipment or engaged in activities that violated U.N.
resolutions.
"We have found a lot of evidence of the Iraqi regime's intent to continue to
acquire weapons of mass destruction. We've found significant evidence of
continuing forbidden activities, particularly in the biological and missile
area," said Kay, repeating points he made in his preliminary report
Thursday.
On Thursday, Kay told the House and Senate intelligence committees that his
team of 1,200 people may need six to nine more months before it has a grasp
of the extent of Iraq's weapons programs.
Reacting to Kay's report, a top House Democrat on Friday said the failure to
find a smoking gun was evidence that the president acted too quickly in his
decision to go to war in Iraq.
Bush did not exhaust all his diplomatic options before "putting our young
people in harm's way," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi,
D-California.
"Because of the lack of imminence of a threat, it is clear that there was
time for more diplomatic efforts to be made before we went to war," she
said. "The report confirms that observation for me."
She said Kay should be allowed to continue the weapons search and be given
funding above the $300 million allocated so far.
A former U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq from the early 1990s said Friday
it's extraordinary that no weapons of mass destruction have been found,
given the intensity of the search.
Ex-inspector Garth Whitty told CNN's "American Morning" that he was
surprised Kay's team had not even found residue from the late '80s and early
'90s, given Iraq's weapons program during that time period.
"I have been surprised because there have been specific weapons inspection
teams looking for weapons, and on top of that, of course, we have about
150,000 coalition troops there," Whitty said.
To broaden the search and make it more credible, Whitty said, he supports
more involvement by other countries.
----------------------------------
Iraq was a threat to Iran and Kuwait - years ago.
No threat to US.
So why did Bu$h get your soldiers and thousands of Iraqis killed?
Blood is on your hands until the criminal Bush Admin is brought to justice.
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| User: "Bradley K. Sherman" |
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| Title: Re: Republicans Kill for Lies, And Keep Lying - No WMDs=No Imminence |
03 Oct 2003 06:04:04 PM |
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In article <ozmfb.11654$6C4.9830@pd7tw1no>, ronin <ronin@ree.tv> wrote:
Bush defends Iraq war after weapons report
http://us.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/10/03/sprj.irq.kay/index.html
But Secretary of State Colin Powell backed up the president, saying, "We're
even more convinced with the Kay report that we did the right thing."
Completely utterly delusional. Did he say this with a straight face?
Zero WMD. 10,000 dead.
--bks
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