WP: President Revises Rationale for War [View All]

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President Revises Rationale for War
Bush, Cheney Stress Iraq's Capabilities

By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 8, 2004; Page A04

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President Bush and Vice President Cheney yesterday said the war in Iraq was justified because Saddam Hussein COULD HAVE MADE weapons of mass destruction. (emphasis added)

The new rationale offered by the president and vice president, significantly more modest than earlier statements about the deposed Iraqi president's capabilities, comes after government experts have said it is unlikely banned weapons will be found in Iraq and after Bush's naming Friday of a commission to examine faulty prewar intelligence.

"Saddam Hussein was dangerous, and I'm not just going to leave him in power and trust a madman," Bush said yesterday in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" that will be broadcast today. "He's a dangerous man. He had the ability to make weapons at the very minimum."

Bush addressed himself to relatives of the more than 500 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. "For the parents of the soldiers who have fallen who are listening, David Kay, the weapons inspector, came back and said, in many ways Iraq was more dangerous than we thought," he said. "We are in a war against these terrorists who could bring great harm to America, and I've asked these young ones to sacrifice for that."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22301-2004Feb7.html