looking back --- remember 2002 -- Bush said he had proof!

[briang5000]

http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/12/05/sproject.irq.inspectors/

December 2002 - Following the meeting, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the administration has proof that Iraq does possess weapons of mass destruction.

Proof.... Proof... Mr. President you have assured us time after time you had proof.
We now know that was a lie at worst. At best it was gross incompetence.
We deserve better.


I'm so sick of hearing Saddam was still a threat.
I'm so sick of hearing Saddam wasn't cooperating with inspectors.

We had inspectors in Iraq. The inspectors wanted more time.

We should have given the time and not spent $200-billion and put our military in harms way.

[gardenista]

1. kick

[thecrow]

2. Remember that table of Iraqi evidence

that the Iraqis handed over to the UN?
I wonder if anybody read it at all.
I wonder if they *had* read it, what it would sjow.

Of course Saddam was trying to get the sanctions lifted.
His people were dying from the sanctions of 12 years.
God Almighty.

GET BUSH OUT!!!!!!!!!!

[displacedtexan]

3. I want to see proof of the NEW & IMPROVED accusations...

against Saddam!

We've got to stop these Nazis!

[teach1st]

4. For the sake of peace, he must disarm

http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/05/sproject.irq.us.deadline/index.html

CNN, 12/5/2002

Officials have good reason for charging that Iraq has the weapons, Fleischer said.

"The president of the United States and the secretary of defense would not assert as plainly and vocally as they have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction if it was not true and if they did not have a solid basis for saying it," Fleischer said.

Fleischer spoke following a meeting of top advisers to President Bush, who discussed Iraq and the nation's pending Sunday deadline to publicly declare any weapons of mass destruction it may have.

Iraqi officials, including President Saddam Hussein, have denied U.S. accusations they have any such weapons.

In a televised statement Thursday, Saddam said his country is giving U.N. weapons inspectors a chance to prove Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction in order to protect Iraqi citizens.

After seven days of work, U.N. inspection teams have reported no evidence that the nation has weapons of mass destruction. Fleischer did not disclose whether U.S. officials were sharing their information with weapons inspectors.

Bush has publicly expressed his skepticism that Saddam has been truthful, and said Thursday the choice between war and peace rests with the Iraqi president.

"The question is whether or not he chooses to disarm," Bush said. "For the sake of peace, he must disarm."

[briang5000]

5. another great article

The press did such a poor job covering the run up to war.

They should start re-examing the lies from these old reports
and point out the gross exaggerations from the Bush WH.

[zbdent]

6. One of Rush's statements that I never truly figured out

"How can you disarm what you don't have? Ha, ha, ha, stupid liberals."

First part is pretty damn close. He was trying to push the idea that Saddam was denying that he had WMDs, but contradicting himself when he said he would disarm.

I guess that Fatboy must have been in on the joke then, too.

It's pretty sad when a deposed leader of a Middle Eastern country has a better command of the English language than the pResident of the US.

[alcuno]

7. Didn't Rumsfeld say, "We know where the weapons of mass destruction are.

They are around Tikrit and Baghdad." I recall seeing him make a half-circle motion with his hand. It was during one of those "briefings" when the press corps seemed so entertained.

[tomfodw]

8. Right before the invasion, Rumsfeld said they knew where the WMD were

He said they were in the area around Tikrit. Didn't say that's where they thought they were, he said that's where they were.

Why isn't the press replaying this statement?