The News Hour Interview with NSC Advisor Condoleezza Rice
March 11, 2002
>JIM LEHRER: Now, back to the Cheney visit to the area. Taking action against Iraq is something he's going to be talking to these folks about, is that correct?
CONDOLEEZZA RICE: He will certainly talk about Iraq, but I think that people need to get out of their minds the kind of image of Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney who went in the fall of 1990 in advance of imminent action against Iraq. President Bush has made no decision about the use of force against Iraq. The vice president will go there. He will consult with our allies and friends in the region.
Obviously, President Bush has put the world on notice that the status quo with Iraq is not acceptable. We have a country that continues to flaunt its international obligations undertaken in 1991 in the armistice, that continues to try to acquire weapons of mass destruction. After all, there is a reason that Saddam Hussein does not want weapons inspections in Iraq. It's...obviously he's got something to hide.
And this is a regime that continues to threaten its neighbors, threaten its own people and threaten world peace and stability. And so it isn't a situation that can continue forever. And the vice president will talk to our friends in the region about what we might do, but he is not carrying a decision by the president of the United States to use force against Iraq. That simply isn't the case.<
http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/p/tp-se1167.html--------------------------
May 23, 2002
Bush says there are "no war plans on my desk"
>"And I told the Chancellor that I have no war plans on my desk, which is the truth, and that we've got to use all means at our disposal to deal with Saddam Hussein. And I appreciate the German Chancellor's understanding of the threats of weapons of mass destruction. And they're real.
Now, I know some would play like they're not real. I'm telling you, they're real. And if you love freedom, it's a threat to freedom. And so we're going to deal with it, and we'll deal with it in a respectful way. The Chancellor said that I promised consultations. I will say it again: I promise consultations with our close friend and ally. We will exert a unified diplomatic pressure. We will share intelligence. We love freedom, and so does the Chancellor, and we cannot allow these weapons to be in a position that will affect history.<
>snip<
THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Let's see, part one of a four-part question. I live in a bubble. That's what happens when you're the President. So, unfortunately, I don't get to see as much of Berlin as I'd like to see. That's just life. So when I come back at some point in my life, Mr. Chancellor, you can show me around. We'll go fishing together."
http://www.useu.be/Categories/GlobalAffairs/May2302BushSchroederIraqTerrorism.html-----------------------------------------
THE MCLAUGHLIN GROUP
HOST: JOHN MCLAUGHLIN
JOINED BY: LAWRENCE KUDLOW, TONY BLANKLEY, MICHAEL MANDELBAUM AND GERARD BAKER
TAPED: FRIDAY, JULY 19, 2002
PRESIDENT BUSH: (From videotape.) As I told President Chirac, I have no war plans on my desk, and I will continue to consult closely with him.
http://www.mclaughlin.com/library/transcript.asp?id=305#top-----------------------------------------
PRESS GAGGLE BY SCOTT MCCLELLAN
DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY
THE WHITE HOUSE
September 16, 2002
Excerpts
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think, one, let me remind everybody, the President has not made a decision about any particular course of action, so it's premature to speculate about decisions the President has not made. Remember, there are a number of options available. The only option that is not available is to do nothing. So our focus continues to be on working with the international community and Congress to address the grave and gathering threat that the Iraqi regime poses to the world.
So I think it's -- again, I think it's premature to speculate about any particular course of action. Those decisions have not been made.
>MR. McCCLELLAN: I'm saying that I don't want to speculate about -- preemption is not an option for spokespeople. I don't want to speculate about a particular course of action that the President has not decided upon.
>Q: Scott, if I could revisit the cost of the war. I mean, to be fair, before the President considers a tax cut, you cost it out and figure out what it's going to cost. Now, the American people do have a right to know if they're going to be led into war what it's going to cost them. So why can't you say if the White House has costed out what a war would cost, why can't you tell us whether or not --
MR. McCLELLAN: You said, if the nation is going to be led into war. I mean, again, no decision has been made about any particular course of action, so --
Q: -- under the false assumption that a final decision has been made. Do you mean to suggest that, unlike all other domestic or international spending initiatives haven't you been costing out the potential cost of a war?
MR. McCLELLAN: I understand what your question is. But again, I'd go back to what I said. We're not going to speculate about a particular decision the President has not made.
>
http://www.iraqwatch.org/government/US/WH/wh-fleischer-091602.htm----------------------------------------------
THE STOVEPIPE
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
How conflicts between the Bush Administration and the intelligence community marred the reporting on Iraq’s weapons.
Issue of 2003-10-27
Posted 2003-10-20
The White House, meanwhile, had been escalating its rhetoric. In a television interview on September 8th, Condoleezza Rice, the national-security adviser, addressing questions about the strength of the Administration’s case against Iraq, said, “We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud”—a formulation that was taken up by hawks in the Administration. And, in a speech on October 7th, President Bush said, “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.”
http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/031027fa_fact-------------------------------------
30,000 BRITISH TROOPS ON STANDBY FOR BATTLE IN IRAQ
Dec 18 2002
By Tom Newton Dunn, Defence Correspondent
A BRITISH military task force is on standby for war against Iraq at a moment's notice.
Up to 30,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen have been ordered by the Ministry of Defence to be ready for action, officials said yesterday.
The alert came as America suggested that Saddam Hussein's 12,000-page weapons declaration was unacceptable. Its analysis will be completed by the weekend.
A round-the-clock air assault, followed by a mainly American invasion involving 250,000 troops, may now be just weeks away.
>Despite the detailed preparations, they insist war is not inevitable and no exact timetable has been set.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12463180&method=full&siteid=50143--------------------------
I'm on my way out the door to take the cat to the vet so haven't checked the validity of any of the links.
If you still need help on the Taliban quote, I can devote some search time later. Hope these help with the other.
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