Quotes of the Morning

“In his final word, the CIA’s top weapons inspector in Iraq said Monday that the hunt for weapons of mass destruction has ‘gone as far as feasible’ and has found nothing, closing an investigation into the purported programs of Saddam Hussein that were used to justify the 2003 invasion.
‘After more than 18 months, the WMD investigation and debriefing of the WMD-related detainees has been exhausted,’ wrote Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group, in an addendum to the final report he issued last fall.
‘As matters now stand, the WMD investigation has gone as far as feasible.’”
-Associated Press, April 25, 2005

“My my.. Let’s go back to a few classics, shall we? First, one of the best lies (we can call them that now, right?) from the administration. I understand that they may have been wrong and truly thought that they would find WMD, but to claim that there was no doubt was certainly a lie. Thus, I think we can safely assume that your President lied to you. Blatantly.”
-Skippy

''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 ‘Dubya’ Bush, March 17, 2003

“Every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we’re giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence.
In fact, they [the Iraqi regime] can produce enough dry biological agent in a single month to kill thousands upon thousands of people. ..Saddam Hussein has never accounted for vast amounts of chemical weaponry: 550 artillery shells with mustard, 30,000 empty munitions, and enough precursors to increase his stockpile to as much as 500 tons of chemical agents. If we consider just one category of missing weaponry, 6,500 bombs from the Iran-Iraq war. . . Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tonnes of chemical-weapons agent. Even the low end of 100 tonnes of agent would enable Saddam Hussein to cause mass casualties across more than 100 square miles of territory, an area nearly five times the size of Manhattan” -Colin Powell, address to the UN Security Council, February 5, 2003
''The Iraqi regime ... possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, October 7, 2003

“[Iraq has enough material] to produce over 25,000 liters of anthrax -- enough doses to kill several million people ... more than 38,000 liters of botulism toxin -- enough to subject millions of people to death by respiratory failure ... as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent.''
George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January, 2003

“(Saddam) says he doesn’t have weapons of mass destruction. He’s got ’em. He’s not only got ’em he’s used them. The choice is his. And if he does not disarm, the United States of America will lead a coalition and disarm him, in the name of peace.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, December 3, 2002

“If we know Saddam has weapons of mass destruction — and we do — does it make any sense for the world to wait to confront him?.. ..It [the Iraq regime] possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons . . . we know that the regime has produced thousands of tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, sarin nerve gas, and VX gas” -George ‘Dubya’ Bush, October 7, 2002

“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 ‘Dubya’ Bush, February 8, 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 Fleisher, March 21, 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

"With respect to chemical-biological capabilities, one knows that they have advanced, and they are, in my judgment, probably more lethal and dangerous today than they would've been back in '91".
-Donald Rumsfeld, February 26, 2003

“His [Saddam Hussein’s] regime has large, unaccounted-for stockpiles of chemical and biological weapon sand he has an active program to acquire and develop nuclear weapons” -Donald Rumsfeld, January 20, 2003