http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3909150/ WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged Thursday that he saw no âsmoking gun, concrete evidenceâ of ties between former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaida terror network, but he insisted that Iraq had dangerous weapons and needed to be disarmed by force. Report says policy misguided Three experts at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said in a report Thursday that the Bush administration systematically misrepresented the weapons threat from Iraq and that U.S. strategy should be revised to eliminate the policy of unilateral preventive war.
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 (UN Resolution) 1441 was enacted, we would not be facing the crisis that we now have before us . . . But the suggestion that we are doing this because we want to go to every country in the Middle East and rearrange all of its pieces is not correct. --Colin Powell Secretary of State Interview with Radio France International 2/28/2003 Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. --Dick Cheney Vice President Speech to VFW National Convention 8/26/2002 The Iraqi 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, VX nerve gas. --George W. Bush Cincinnati, Ohio Speech 10/7/2002 We know for a fact that there are weapons there. --Ari Fleischer Press Secretary Press Briefing 1/9/2003
Bu why did Saddam Hussein hide the facts for the UN inspectors? Why did'nt he tell them how and when he destroyed his weapons?