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Before
Baghdad Fell
Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam
Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. - Dick
Cheney, August 26, 2002
Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities
that were used for the production of biological weapons.
- George W. Bush, September 12, 2002
If he declares he has none, then we will know that
Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world. - Ari
Fleischer, December 2, 2002
The president of the United States and the secretary
of defense would not assert as plainly and bluntly
as they have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction
if it was not true, and if they did not have
a solid basis for saying it. - Ari Fleischer
December 6, 2002
We know for a fact that there are weapons there.
- Ari Fleischer January 9, 2003
It appears to be a re-run of a bad movie. [Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein] is delaying. He's deceiving. He's asking
for time. He's playing hide-and-seek with inspectors.
One thing is for certain - he's not disarming.
- George W. Bush, January 21, 2003
Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein
had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons
of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. - George
W. Bush, January 28, 2003
We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to
keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined
to make more. - Colin Powell, February 5, 2003
We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently
authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons
- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not
have. - George W. Bush, February 8, 2003
So has the strategic decision been made to disarm Iraq
of its weapons of mass destruction by the leadership
in Baghdad? . . . I think our judgment has to be clearly
not. - Colin Powell, March 7, 2003
Intelligence gathered by this and other governments
leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues
to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons
ever devised. - George W. Bush, March 17, 2003
Well, there is no question that we have evidence
and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction,
biological and chemical particularly . . . all this
will be made clear in the course of the operation, for
whatever duration it takes. - Ari Fleischer,
March 21, 2003
There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam
Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. And .
. . as this operation continues, those weapons will
be identified, found, along with the people who have
produced them and who guard them. - Gen. Tommy
Franks, March 22, 2003
One of our top objectives is to find and destroy the
WMD. There are a number of sites. - Pentagon
Spokeswoman Victoria Clark, March 22, 2003
We know where they are. They're in the area
around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and
north somewhat. - Donald Rumsfeld, March 30,
2003
We have high confidence that they have weapons
of mass destruction. That is what this war was about
and it is about. - Ari Fleischer, April
10, 2003
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After
Baghdad Fell
When there happens to be a weapon of mass destruction
suspect site in an area that we occupy and if people
have time, they'll look at it. - Donald
Rumsfeld, April 11, 2003
I don't think we'll discover anything, myself.
I think what will happen is we'll discover people who
will tell us where to go find it. It is not like a treasure
hunt where you just run around looking everywhere hoping
you find something. I just don't think that's going
to happen. The inspectors didn't find anything, and
I doubt that we will. What we will do is find
the people who will tell us. - Donald Rumsfeld,
April 17, 2003
We are learning more as we interrogate or have discussions
with Iraqi scientists and people within the Iraqi structure,
that perhaps he destroyed some, perhaps he dispersed
some. And so we will find them. - George
W. Bush, April 24, 2003
There are people who in large measure have information
that we need . . . so that we can track down the weapons
of mass destruction in that country. - Donald
Rumsfeld, April 25, 2003
He tried to fool the United Nations and did for 12
years by hiding these weapons. And so, it's going to
take time to find them. But we know he had them, and
whether he destroyed them, moved them or hid them, we're
going to find out the truth. - George W. Bush
April 25, 2003
We'll find them. It'll be a matter of time to do
so. - George W. Bush, May 3, 2003
I'm absolutely sure that there are weapons of
mass destruction there and the evidence will be forthcoming.
We're just getting it just now. - Colin Powell,
May 4, 2003
We never believed that we'd just tumble over weapons
of mass destruction in that country. Donald Rumsfeld,
May 4, 2003 I'm not surprised if we begin to uncover
the weapons program of Saddam Hussein - because he had
a weapons program. - George W. Bush, May 6,
2003
U.S. officials never expected that "we were
going to open garages and find" weapons of mass destruction.
- Condoleeza Rice, May 12, 2003
I just don't know whether it was all destroyed years
ago - I mean, there's no question that there were
chemical weapons years ago - whether they were destroyed
right before the war, (or) whether they're still hidden.
- Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, Commander 101st
Airborne, May 13, 2003
Given time, given the number of prisoners now that
we're interrogating, I'm confident that we're going
to find weapons of mass destruction. - Gen.
Richard Myers, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, May 26,
2003
They may have had time to destroy them, and
I don't know the answer. - Donald Rumsfeld,
May 27, 2003
For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one
issue, weapons of mass destruction (as justification
for invading Iraq) because it was the one reason everyone
could agree on. - Paul Wolfowitz, May 28, 2003
It was a surprise to me then — it remains a surprise
to me now — that we have not uncovered weapons, as you
say, in some of the forward dispersal sites. Believe
me, it's not for lack of trying. We've been to virtually
every ammunition supply point between the Kuwaiti border
and Baghdad, but they're simply not there. - Lt.
Gen. James Conway, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, May
30, 2003
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If
you followed the news reports before and after the conquest
of Iraq, you may have noticed a distinct difference in tone.
The administration began to play down weapons of mass destruction
and began emphasizing the "liberation" of Iraq. However, after
talking about WMD until the whole country was sick of hearing
about them, questions were bound to be asked. The contrast
between the administration's stance before and after Baghdad's
fall is striking:
