in 1991 Operation Desert Storm comes to
an end but for some the war isn’t over
there was still a great deal of residual
feeling that we should not have stopped
the first Persian Gulf War when we did
but rather continue it to Baghdad and
topple Saddam Hussein on January 20th
2001 president george w bush enters the
White House and Saddam Hussein is back
on the agenda there were no people in
the Department of Defense who wanted to
pursue a certain policy course they
don’t think they ever took their eyes
off of Iraq
September 11th 2001 they didn’t wait for
9/11 to become interested in Iraq during
the first months of the new Bush
administration they were advocating that
we go to war with Iraq but when Bush
meets with advisors to discuss a
response to 9/11 Iraq is not at the top
of his list the president was basically
saying that’s not why we’ve gathered to
talk about Iraq right now I went out and
talked to Paul Wolfowitz during a break
in the meeting and I said you know let’s
cool it on the Iraq stuff for a while
the president’s focus is on Afghanistan
this is where Osama bin Laden operates
under the protection of the Taliban the
country’s ruling Muslim sacked after six
weeks US forces have dismantled the
Taliban but are still pursuing bin Laden
meanwhile administration officials
continue to pursue Iraq we’re also
working to try to prepare our nation for
the next war
since 9/11 the administration has
suggested that Saddam Hussein might
attempt something equally diabolical but
this time the stakes could be even
higher the situation I think that that
leads a lot of people to be concerned
about Iraq has to do not just with their
past activity of harvick tariffs but
also with Saddam Hussein’s behavior over
the years and with his aggressive
pursuit of weapons of mass destruction
by January 2002 Saddam’s use of torture
and chemical weapons and his alleged
possession of WMDs have earned Iraq
membership in a notorious Club states
like these and their terrorist allies
constitute an axis of evil arming to
threaten the Peace of the world
germs and chemicals and dirty bombs and
all the rest of it the mecca if you will
for WMD and the infrastructure for
production of more dmg was in Iraq most
people would agree that if someone’s
leveling
gun at you and you can prevent him from
firing you should do so but many are
urging the President to adopt a
diplomatic solution the president kind
of like a circus rider on two horses is
the reins of a horse called war and the
reins of a horse called diplomacy and
the horses wore blinders and they were
charging ahead and the president had to
guide them to the finish line Secretary
of State Colin Powell cautions the
president about invading Iraq the now
famous Pottery Barn rule I told the
president if we break the regime we own
it we own 25 million Iraqi people and
it’s gonna be a massive effort in order
to control it it’s a risk the president
is willing to take a National
Intelligence Estimate from CIA director
George Tenet supports the idea that Iraq
is a grave and gathering threat facing
clear evidence of peril we cannot wait
for the final proof The Smoking Gun that
could come in the form of a mushroom
cloud it’s a slam dunk now I believe the
facts that have brought us to this
fateful vote are not in doubt Sodom is
saying is a tyrant who has tortured and
killed his own people there was no
serious debate Republicans wanted to
support their president Democrats didn’t
wanna get on the wrong side of an Iraq
war like many of them had in 1991
secretary Powell urges the president to
work with the United Nations to contain
and if necessary confront Saddam so
intense negotiation I lived either in
New York or in my office on the phone
for seven weeks to get resolution 1441
in Anniston approved
UN resolution 1441 demands that Saddam
account for all of his WMD programs and
allow weapons inspectors into Iraq in
November 2002 inspectors get underway
but Pentagon officials insists that the
process is flawed
one of the members of the team was
tipping off saddam where we were going
to go but they moved everything out of
there you could see places where it
looks like somebody just come in and
cleaned it by January 2003 inspectors
have found no stockpiles of WMD s
without clear evidence the UN Security
Council won’t authorize an attack but
America has a strong ally in Britain and
for President Bush the time to act is
now
that’s a time when the president has to
be alone in his faith recognize the
responsibility of being a
commander-in-chief so with the support
of his government and the American
people plus a coalition of allies abroad
President George W Bush makes one of the
most scrutinized executive decisions in
history to disarm Iraq to free its
people and to defend the world from
grave danger the decision to
preemptively invade Iraq
an end but for some the war isn’t over
there was still a great deal of residual
feeling that we should not have stopped
the first Persian Gulf War when we did
but rather continue it to Baghdad and
topple Saddam Hussein on January 20th
2001 president george w bush enters the
White House and Saddam Hussein is back
on the agenda there were no people in
the Department of Defense who wanted to
pursue a certain policy course they
don’t think they ever took their eyes
off of Iraq
September 11th 2001 they didn’t wait for
9/11 to become interested in Iraq during
the first months of the new Bush
administration they were advocating that
we go to war with Iraq but when Bush
meets with advisors to discuss a
response to 9/11 Iraq is not at the top
of his list the president was basically
saying that’s not why we’ve gathered to
talk about Iraq right now I went out and
talked to Paul Wolfowitz during a break
in the meeting and I said you know let’s
cool it on the Iraq stuff for a while
the president’s focus is on Afghanistan
this is where Osama bin Laden operates
under the protection of the Taliban the
country’s ruling Muslim sacked after six
weeks US forces have dismantled the
Taliban but are still pursuing bin Laden
meanwhile administration officials
continue to pursue Iraq we’re also
working to try to prepare our nation for
the next war
since 9/11 the administration has
suggested that Saddam Hussein might
attempt something equally diabolical but
this time the stakes could be even
higher the situation I think that that
leads a lot of people to be concerned
about Iraq has to do not just with their
past activity of harvick tariffs but
also with Saddam Hussein’s behavior over
the years and with his aggressive
pursuit of weapons of mass destruction
by January 2002 Saddam’s use of torture
and chemical weapons and his alleged
possession of WMDs have earned Iraq
membership in a notorious Club states
like these and their terrorist allies
constitute an axis of evil arming to
threaten the Peace of the world
germs and chemicals and dirty bombs and
all the rest of it the mecca if you will
for WMD and the infrastructure for
production of more dmg was in Iraq most
people would agree that if someone’s
leveling
gun at you and you can prevent him from
firing you should do so but many are
urging the President to adopt a
diplomatic solution the president kind
of like a circus rider on two horses is
the reins of a horse called war and the
reins of a horse called diplomacy and
the horses wore blinders and they were
charging ahead and the president had to
guide them to the finish line Secretary
of State Colin Powell cautions the
president about invading Iraq the now
famous Pottery Barn rule I told the
president if we break the regime we own
it we own 25 million Iraqi people and
it’s gonna be a massive effort in order
to control it it’s a risk the president
is willing to take a National
Intelligence Estimate from CIA director
George Tenet supports the idea that Iraq
is a grave and gathering threat facing
clear evidence of peril we cannot wait
for the final proof The Smoking Gun that
could come in the form of a mushroom
cloud it’s a slam dunk now I believe the
facts that have brought us to this
fateful vote are not in doubt Sodom is
saying is a tyrant who has tortured and
killed his own people there was no
serious debate Republicans wanted to
support their president Democrats didn’t
wanna get on the wrong side of an Iraq
war like many of them had in 1991
secretary Powell urges the president to
work with the United Nations to contain
and if necessary confront Saddam so
intense negotiation I lived either in
New York or in my office on the phone
for seven weeks to get resolution 1441
in Anniston approved
UN resolution 1441 demands that Saddam
account for all of his WMD programs and
allow weapons inspectors into Iraq in
November 2002 inspectors get underway
but Pentagon officials insists that the
process is flawed
one of the members of the team was
tipping off saddam where we were going
to go but they moved everything out of
there you could see places where it
looks like somebody just come in and
cleaned it by January 2003 inspectors
have found no stockpiles of WMD s
without clear evidence the UN Security
Council won’t authorize an attack but
America has a strong ally in Britain and
for President Bush the time to act is
now
that’s a time when the president has to
be alone in his faith recognize the
responsibility of being a
commander-in-chief so with the support
of his government and the American
people plus a coalition of allies abroad
President George W Bush makes one of the
most scrutinized executive decisions in
history to disarm Iraq to free its
people and to defend the world from
grave danger the decision to
preemptively invade Iraq
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