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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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 Sun Feb 08, 2004 11:44 am Bush Says Saddam Had Capacity for Nukes |
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| Quote: | Bush Says Saddam Had Capacity for Nukes
President Makes His First Appearance on 'Meet the Press'
By DEB RIECHMANN, AP
AP
President Bush is interviewed Tim Russert for NBC�s "Meet the Press."
WASHINGTON (Feb. 8 ) - Defending his decision to invade Iraq, President Bush said that although stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons have not been found, Saddam Hussein had the capacity to produce such arms and could have developed a nuclear weapon over time.
Bush, in an interview broadcast Sunday, denied he led the United States into war under false pretenses, but he acknowledged that some prewar intelligence apparently was inaccurate. He did not directly respond to election-year allegations that his administration exaggerated intelligence to bolster a march to oust the Iraqi president.
"We will find out about the weapons of mass destruction that we all thought were there," Bush said in the interview taped Saturday in the Oval Office with Tim Russert, host of NBC's "Meet the Press."
Bush, who pledged after the Sept. 11 attacks to get suspected mastermind Osama bin Laden "dead or alive," said Sunday: "I have no idea whether we will capture or bring him to justice."
Bush said former chief weapons inspector David Kay, who has said that U.S. intelligence was "almost all wrong" about Saddam's arms, said Saddam found the "capacity to produce weapons." Bush went on to speculate about what happened to the weapons.
"They could have been destroyed during the war. Saddam and his henchmen could have destroyed them as we entered into Iraq," Bush said. "They could be hidden. They could have been transported to another country, and we'll find out."
Bush said he decided to go to war based on the intelligence he had at hand about Saddam, but said CIA Director George Tenet's job is not in jeopardy. "I strongly believe the CIA is ably led by George Tenet," he said.
While Bush heavily based the decision to wage war on the rationale that Saddam had forbidden weapons at the ready, the president continued in the interview to emphasize his contention about Saddam's dictatorial rule - that Saddam brutalized Iraqis and had connections to terrorist groups.
"I repeat to you what I strongly believe, that inaction in Iraq would have emboldened Saddam Hussein," Bush said. "He could have developed a nuclear weapon over time - I'm not saying immediately, but over time. ... We would have been in a position of blackmail. In other words, you can't rely upon a madman."
Among the other issues discussed in the interview, Bush:
-- pledged to cooperate with the commission he set up last week to examine intelligence lapses. "I will be glad to visit with them," he said.
-- defended his National Guard service during the Vietnam War. The chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Terry McAuliffe, has accused Bush of being "AWOL," or absent without leave, for a year in the early 1970s after Bush transferred to an Alabama unit.
"I served in the National Guard," Bush said. "I flew F-102 aircraft. I got an honorable discharge."
The president dismissed news reports saying there is no evidence he reported for duty in Alabama during the summer and fall of 1972. "They're just wrong," Bush said.
-- said his policy to cut taxes was responsible for driving the economic rebound and putting the country on the road to recovering the more than 2 million jobs lost since he took office in 2001.
-- expressed indifference to polls that showed him trailing Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who is leading the race to be the Democratic presidential nominee. "I'm not going to lose," Bush said. "I don't plan on losing."
-- said he would "perhaps" submit to questions from the commission reviewing the Sept. 11 attacks.
-- said "diplomacy is just beginning" with North Korea, where the United States and its allies are seeking to persuade the communist nation to abandon its nuclear weapons programs. "We are making good progress," Bush said.
The interview came at a time when Bush's approval rating has dipped to 47 percent in an Associated Press-Ipsos poll taken in early February; that compares with 56 percent just a month ago.
02/08/04 10:24 EST
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press
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Last edited by Theresa on Sun Mar 07, 2004 11:19 pm; edited 1 time in total
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T. Dean
Captain
Joined: 16 Dec 2003
Posts: 715
Location: Winston-Salem, North Carolina
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| Tue Feb 17, 2004 9:40 pm |
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It's interesting that the Bush administration has shifted away from claiming that invading Iraq was in order to halt an immediate threat to saying that the invasion was to avert a distant threat. I remember Colin Powell showing the UN photos of Iraqi weapons sites, suggesting that these were photographic proof of Iraqi nuclear capability. Now the press has quoted Powell saying that if he had known the true nature of the Iraqi threat, he would not have pushed for war as much as he did. That Bush and his supporters have blamed their shoddy information just seems like an excuse. It worries me that the information that the government recieves and uses as a basis for actions concerning things like war is that questionable.
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Los
Commodore
Joined: 07 Jun 2002
Posts: 1336
Location: Oklahoma fa sho!
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Leo Wyatt
Sweetest Angel
Joined: 25 Feb 2004
Posts: 19045
Location: Investigating A Crime Scene. What did Quark do this time?
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| Sat Feb 28, 2004 11:08 am |
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How u know Saddam did not have nukes? My husband was in a chemical unit and he said they did find evidence of it. But I was not there Charlie was. So I don't know what went on over there except for walking the floors til the next time he called me and let me know he was ok.
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Dirt
Exercise Boy
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 2086
Location: a tree
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| Wed Mar 03, 2004 7:12 am |
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^ Because it would be all over the news if Saddam did have nukes? It would help silence the criticism that people had about the war you know? 
I suppose maybe your husband took a wrong turn to Libia or somewhere where they do have chemical weapons.
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Leo Wyatt
Sweetest Angel
Joined: 25 Feb 2004
Posts: 19045
Location: Investigating A Crime Scene. What did Quark do this time?
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| Wed Mar 03, 2004 8:36 am |
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Nope. He told me to leave this discussion and let him come talk. He said words come out wrong lol. Whenever he finds time. army life go figure.
But it is no reason to really argue over this. Because whats done is done.
No changing it. But I know he did say they did have something. I will leave it up to him to tell. He was over there, not me.
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