Reply #67: Could it be that some of the missing pages

[DoYouEverWonder]

also cover Iraq and Saddam? It seems from the remarks the President made to the press pool on 8-7-2001 he was much more concerned about Saddam. Bu$h says he was briefed on the sitution in Iraq but he makes absolutely no mention of being briefed or of being concerned about bin Laden or al Qaeda?




http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/08/20010807-2.html

Q Also today, apparently the Iraqis fired upon some allied planes in the no-fly zone and we bombed, apparently, some of the sites there. What do you have on that?

THE PRESIDENT: I've been briefed on it. As you know, our military can make decisions as they see fit to protect our pilots -- unless, of course, it's close to Baghdad, in which case it requires my approval. The missions that took place were fully in accordance with established allied war plans.

As I said, Saddam Hussein is a menace, he's still a menace and we need to keep him in check, and will.

Q Are they ratcheting it up, though? We've had a lot of incidents lately.

THE PRESIDENT: No -- are they, the Iraqis? He's been a menace forever, and we will do -- he needs to open his country up for inspection, so we can see whether or not he's developing weapons of mass destruction.