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Edited on Fri Nov-11-05 07:32 PM by tgnyc
"The larger point is and the fundamental question is, did Saddam Hussein have a weapons program? And the answer is absolutely. And we gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in and he wouldn't let them in. And, therefore, after a reasonable request, we decided to remove him from power, along with other nations, so as to make sure he was not a threat to the United States and our friends and allies in the region." -- George W. Bush; July 14, 2003
We gave Saddam Hussein plenty of time to heed the demands of the world, and he chose defiance. He did. He said, 'Forget it. I don't care what the United Nations has said over a decade. I don't care about all the resolutions passed.' He chose defiance; we acted." -- George W. Bush; December 15, 2003
"And then we went to the United Nations, of course, and got an overwhelming resolution -- 1441 -- unanimous resolution, that said to Saddam, 'You must disclose and destroy your weapons programs,' which obviously meant the world felt he had such programs. He chose defiance. It was his choice to make, and he did not let us in." -- George W. Bush; January 27, 2004
"The United States and the world still hoped for a peaceful solution -- and Saddam Hussein faced a choice: to show that he was meeting his international obligations to disarm, or to continue his defiance. He chose unwisely. <...> "We may never know why Saddam Hussein chose the destruction of his regime over peaceful disarmament. But we know this: it was his choice. And if he had chosen differently -- if the Iraqi regime had taken the steps Libya is now taking -- there would have been no war." -- Donald H. Rumsfeld; February 7, 2004
"In 2002, the United Nations Security Council yet again demanded a full accounting of Saddam Hussein's weapons programs. As he had for over a decade, Saddam Hussein refused to comply. So we had a choice to make: either take the word of a madman, or take action to defend America and the world. Faced with that choice, I will defend America every time." -- George W. Bush; February 24, 2004
The president of the United States, in a very public way, reached out to people across the world, went to the United Nations and tried to resolve this in a diplomatic manner. Saddam Hussein was the one, in the end, who chose continued defiance. And only then was the decision made, as a last resort, to go into Iraq." -- Scott McClellan; May 17, 2005
"And the fact is, we decided to go to the United Nations and went through that process, which resulted in the November 2002 United Nations resolution to give a final chance to Saddam Hussein to comply with international law. He didn't do so. And that was the reason why we had to take military action." -- Tony Blair; June 7, 2005
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