Subject: A Bush Administration Timeline Part 1

Bush Administration Officials’ Lies about Iraq’s Supposed Weapons of Mass
Destruction in Their Own Words

Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass
destruction.
   - Dick Cheney, speech to VFW National Convention, Aug. 26, 2002

Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the
production of biological weapons.
   - George W. Bush, speech to UN General Assembly, Sept. 12, 2002

No terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security
of our people and the stability of the world than the regime of Saddam
Hussein in Iraq.
   - Donald Rumsfeld, testimony to Congress, Sept. 19, 2002

The world is also uniting to answer the unique and urgent threat posed by
Iraq.
   - George W. Bush, Nov. 23, 2002

If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once
again misleading the world.
   - Ari Fleischer, press briefing, Dec. 2, 2002

We know for a fact that there are weapons there.
   - Ari Fleischer, press briefing, Jan. 9, 2003

What we know from UN inspectors over the course of the last decade is that
Saddam Hussein possesses thousands of chemical warheads, that he possesses
hundreds of liters of very dangerous toxins that can kill millions of
people.
   - White House spokesman Dan Bartlett, CNN interview, Jan. 26, 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…. The
British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought
significant quantities of uranium from Africa.
   - George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, Jan. 28, 2003

We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass
destruction, is determined to make more.
   - Colin Powell, remarks to UN Security Council, Feb. 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, radio address, Feb. 8, 2003

If Iraq had disarmed itself, gotten rid of its weapons of mass destruction
over the past 12 years, or over the last several months since 1441 was enacted, we would not be facing the crisis that we now
have before us.
   - Colin Powell, interview with Radio France International, Feb. 28, 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, remarks to UN Security Council, 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, address to the U.S., March 17, 2003

The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at
the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass
murder.
   - George W. Bush, address to U.S., March 19, 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, press briefing, 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, press conference, March 22, 2003

I have no doubt we're going to find big stores of weapons of mass
destruction.
   - Defense Policy Board member Kenneth Adelman, The Washington Post,
March 23, 2003

One of our top objectives is to find and destroy the WMD. There are a number
of sites.
   - Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clark, press briefing, 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, ABC interview, March 30, 2003

Obviously the administration intends to publicize all the weapons of mass
destruction U.S. forces find - and there will be plenty.
   - Robert Kagan, The Washington Post, April 9, 2003

But make no mistake - as I said earlier - we have high confidence that they
have weapons of mass destruction. That is what this war was about and it is
about. And we have high confidence it will be found.
   - Ari Fleischer, press briefing, April 10, 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, NBC interview, 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, press briefing, April 25, 2003

We'll find them. It'll be a matter of time to do so.
   - George W. Bush, remarks to reporters, 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, remarks to reporters, 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, remarks to reporters, May 6, 2003

We said what we said because we meant it…..We continue to have confidence
that WMD will be found.
   - White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, press briefing, May 7, 2003