March 19 (Reuters) - Five years ago, the Bush administration marched to war with Iraq armed with inaccurate intelligence, mistaken assumptions and extravagant hopes that have cost the United States dearly in blood and treasure.
Following is a series of quotations, statements and subsequent outcomes of some of the main justifications that led the United States to invade Iraq on March 19, 2003:
SADDAM HUSSEIN'S WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
* President George W. Bush, two days before the war's start: "Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."
* Then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice in September 2002: "We don't want 'the smoking gun' to be a mushroom cloud."
* Vice President Dick Cheney on Aug. 26, 2002: "There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."
"Many of us are convinced that Saddam will acquire nuclear weapons fairly soon."
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