The economy was in a shambles; his approvals were down. But then they started talking up the threat posed by Iraq. In all of the discussions leading up to the war, though, I don't recall any reporter asking the Bush administration to explain these two statements given by top administration officials.
''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.'' - Condoleeza Rice, July 29, 2001Is anyone ever going to ask them to explain how Saddam managed to rearm himself in the one short year following these statements by Rice and Powell?
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. . .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..." - Secretary of State Colin Powell stating that sanctions had prevented Saddam from developing significant capability with respect to WMD; February, 2001. Source. US State Department
