Reply #11: Here's what David Gregory asked the President on the eve of war [View All]

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

This is from the press conference held by Bush on March 6, 2003, less than two weeks before going to war and here's the question David Gregory asked when he had the chance to challenge Bush on the WMD evidence, or the evidence of Al Qaeda in Iraq:

Gregory.

Q Mr. President, good evening. If you order war, can any military operation be considered a success if the United States does not capture Saddam Hussein, as you once said, dead or alive?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I hope we don't have to go to war, but if we go to war, we will disarm Iraq. And if we go to war, there will be a regime change. And replacing this cancer inside of Iraq will be a government that represents the rights of all the people, a government which represents the voices of the Shia and Sunni and the Kurds.

We care about the suffering of the Iraqi people. I mentioned in my opening comments that there's a lot of food ready to go in. There's something like 55,000 oil-for-food distribution points in Iraq. We know where they are. We fully intend to make sure that they're -- got ample food. We know where their hospitals are; we want to make sure they've got ample medical supplies. The life of the Iraqi citizen is going to dramatically improve.

Q Sir, I'm sorry, is success contingent upon capturing or killing Saddam Hussein, in your mind?

THE PRESIDENT: We will be changing the regime of Iraq, for the good of the Iraqi people.