Reply #60: Helen Thomas (Full question and detailed answer)

[Roland99]

"Your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands...every reason given publicly turned out not to be true. My question is why did you really want to go to war...from the moment you stepped into office...you said it wasn't oil, Israel, what was it?"


"I think your premise is...I didn't want war. To assume I want war is flat-wrong, Helen. No President wants war...it's not true...my attitude about the defense of this country changed on Sept. 11. When we got attacked I vowed to use every asset to protect the American people. We used to think we were secure. But we realized on Sept. 11, 2001 that killers could destroy innocent life. We will do everything in our power to protect our people. We won't let people provide safe haven that's why we went into Iraq. The Taliban provided safe haven for Al Qaeda...mumble...Afghanistan provided safe haven...that's where they trained. I also saw a threat in Iraq. I hoped to solve this diplomatically. That's why I went to the UN...1441...disarm, disclose or face serious consequences...when he chose to deny inspectors....the world is safer."