Powell and Rice assure us Iraq is no threat before 9/11

[Maraya1969]

Run time: 00:56 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1X-I-38lrU   Posted on YouTube: August 11, 2006 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: May 31, 2007 By DU Member: Maraya1969 Views on DU: 845

 
This has probably been shown before but it begs repeating.

[Captain Hilts]

1. The DNC needs to make an ad of this clip. nt

[Maraya1969]

3. OK some people over at YouTube are saying that because Powell

And Rice don't actually say the name "Saddam" that this can be taken out of context. But who else could they possibly be talking about?
Kim Jong-il?

Seriously can you think of any other person they could have been talking about?

[Maraya1969]

4. Found the information!

>>> During the run-up to the 2003 attack on Iraq, we were repeatedly told by US leaders that Iraq absolutely, positively had weapons of mass destruction . The country was an immediate threat not only to its neighbors but to the entire world. It had the capability of launching WMDs within 45 minutes.

In August 2002, Cheney insisted: "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."

In a March 2003 address to the nation, Bush said: "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."

In April 2003, Fleischer claimed: "But make no mistake--as I said earlier--we have high confidence that they have weapons of mass destruction. That is what this war was about and it is about."

In February 2003, Powell said: "We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more."

But two years earlier, Powell said just the opposite. The occasion was a press conference on 24 February 2001 during Powell's visit to Cairo, Egypt. Answering a question about the US-led sanctions against Iraq, the Secretary of State said:

We had a good discussion, the Foreign Minister and I and the President and I, had a good discussion about the nature of the sanctions -- the fact that the sanctions exist -- not for the purpose of hurting the Iraqi people, but for the purpose of keeping in check Saddam Hussein's ambitions toward developing weapons of mass destruction. We should constantly be reviewing our policies, constantly be looking at those sanctions to make sure that they are directed toward that purpose. That purpose is every bit as important now as it was ten years ago when we began it. And frankly they have worked. He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors. So in effect, our policies have strengthened the security of the neighbors of Iraq...

http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/powell-no-wmd.htm

But Powell wasn't the only senior administration official telling the truth before the truth became highly inconvenient. On 29 July 2001, Condoleezza Rice appeared on CNN Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer (an anonymous reader sent me the full transcript from Lexis-Nexis). Guest host John King asked Rice about the fact that Iraq had recently fired on US planes enforcing the "no-fly zones" in Iraq. Rice craftily responds:

Well, the president has made very clear that he considers Saddam Hussein to be a threat to his neighbors, a threat to security in the region, in fact a threat to international security more broadly.

Notice that she makes it clear that Bush is the one who considers Hussein a threat. She doesn't say, "I consider..." or even, "We consider..."

Then King asks her about the sanctions against Iraq. She replies:

But in terms of Saddam Hussein being there, let's remember that his country is divided, in effect. He does not control the northern part of his country. We are able to keep arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.

King doesn't think to ask Rice, if Hussein hasn't been getting arms and his forces weren't rebuilt after the 1991 Gulf War, why Bush considers him a threat.

[rodeodance]

2. i am going to send to all I know

[burbank_spiffers]

5. Yeah, I've been posting it every now and then...

and I've had it on my myspace page for about a year:
http://www.myspace.com/progrockkeys

And I used some of the clips of the audio from it in my song "Your Own Lies" here:
http://www.myspace.com/foolishmortalz

I really wish everyone in the US would watch this...
Thanks for posting it.
Cheers,
Binkles