Deadlines

Does Bush oppose deadlines on getting out of Iraq? Well, it depends. It seems he was FOR deadlines before he was against them. This is from an official White House press release.

"Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict, commenced at a time of our choosing. For their own safety, all foreign nationals -- including journalists and inspectors -- should leave Iraq immediately."

And then there was this from the 2000 election campaign:

“I think it’s also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn.”

Again - when Clinton was in office, Bush favored timetables; and when Bush was telling Saddam to leave, he also favored a timetable.



And what about this reference to "inspectors"? Some of you may recall that Bush later claimed Saddam wouldn't allow inspectors into Iraq. Do you wonder who these inspectors are Bush is telling to leave? Bush's warning above telling the UN insepctors to leave Iraq flies in the face of a later statement by Bush in which he claims Saddam wouldn't allow inspectors into Iraq.

"The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, did Saddam Hussein have a weapons program? And the answer is, absolutely. And we gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in."

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Iraq Improves Cooperation with UN Inspectors

We often hear complaints that Bush's war in Iraq was necessary because Saddam wouldn't allow inspectors into Iraq. The truth of the matter is that inspectors were in Iraq and as late as March 7, 2003 had praised Iraq's improved cooperation. In fact, inspectors noted that their work would be complete in merely a matter of months. According to Hans Blix:

"They are nevertheless welcome and UNMOVIC is responding to them in the hope of solving presently unresolved disarmament issues," he stressed, adding that with a proactive Iraqi stance it would take "not years, nor weeks, but months" to resolve the key remaining disarmament tasks, which he said he would present to the Council before the end of this month.''

Why the rush to war in the face of this encouraging news from the UN inspectors? One possibility is that Bush knew his lying about the WMDs would be exposed if he allowed the UN inspectors to complete their work.