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"States like these and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world."
President George W. Bush
State of the Union Address
January 29, 2002
Justifying the US-Led War on Iraq:
A Compendium of Contradictions and Misrepresentations
BringHonorBack.org
On the Predetermination of War
"All patriotic Iraqis should embrace this resolution <1441> as an opportunity for Iraq to avoid war and end its isolation...The United States prefers that Iraq meet its obligations voluntarily."
President Bush
Address to the Nation
November 8, 2002
"Even now, he could end his defiance and dramatically change directions...You see, the use of military force is this nation's last option, its last choice."
President Bush
Fort Hood Army Base
January 3, 2003
"The president is serious about consultation. The president is serious about diplomacy. He hopes it will work, and he wants to give it time to work."
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer
January 30, 2003
"...reaffirming the commitment of all Member States to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq, Kuwait, and the neighbouring States..."
US-authored Security Council draft resolution
March 7, 2003
"The Vice President dropped by a Senate Republican policy lunch soon after his 10-day tour of the Middle East ...Before he spoke, he said no one should repeat what he said. Then he gave them some surprising news. The question was no longer if the U.S. would attack Iraq, he said. The only question was when."
Time Magazine
May 5, 2002
"'F___ Saddam. We're taking him out.' Those were the words of President George W. Bush, who had poked his head into the office of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. It was March 2002, and Rice was meeting with three U.S. Senators. "
Time Magazine
March 31, 2003
On Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction and Evidence of Their Existence
"Iraq has aggressively pursued weapons of mass destruction, even while inspectors were inside the country."
President Bush
Address to the Nation
September 8, 2002
"Saddam Hussein is not disarming. This is a fact. It cannot be denied."
President Bush
News conference
March 6, 2003
"The Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised...Today, no nation can possibly claim that Iraq has disarmed."
President Bush
Address to the Nation
March 17, 2003
"At this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq."
President Bush
Address on the Start of War
March 20, 2003
"I do not accept as fact the US and UK’s repeated assertions that Baghdad has used the time to rebuild its weapons of mass destruction."
UNSCOM chief weapons inspector Hans Blix
March 2002 (reported in London Financial Times)
"After three months of intrusive inspections, we have to date found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons programme in Iraq."
Mohammed ElBaradei
Director-General International Atomic Energy Agency
Statement to UN Security Council
March 7, 2003
"It behooves me to admit that I find present allegations about Iraq's nuclear capability, as continuously advanced by the Americans and the British, to be ridiculous."
Imad Khadduri, PhD
Seneca College, Toronto
Former Nuclear Scientist, Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission (1968-1998)
November 21, 2002
"Its capability was reduced during the UNSCOM inspections and is probably more limited now than it was at the time of the Gulf war."
Central Intelligence Agency Report, "Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs"
October 2002
"Senior officials in the Bush administration have admitted that they would be 'amazed' if weapons of mass destruction (WMD) were found in Iraq. "
Neil Mackay
Edinburgh Sunday Herald
May 3, 2003
On Iraq's Attempted Procurement of Aluminum Tubes, and their Intended Purpose
"Iraq has made several attempts to buy high-strength aluminum tubes used to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon."
President Bush
Remarks to UN General Assembly
September 12, 2002
"All the experts who have analyzed the tubes in our possession agree that they can be adapted for centrifuge use."
Secretary of State Colin Powell
Remarks to UN Security Council
February 5, 2003
"Extensive field investigation and document analysis have failed to uncover any evidence that Iraq intended to use these 81mm tubes for any project other than the reverse engineering of rockets...even had Iraq pursued such a plan, it would have encountered practical difficulties in manufacturing centrifuges out of the aluminium tubes in question."
Mohammed ElBaradei
Director-General, International Atomic Energy Agency
March 7, 2003
"According to Albright government experts on nuclear technology who dissented from the Bush administration's view told him they were expected to remain silent."
Washington Post
September 19, 2002
On Iraq's Reported Attempt to Procure Uranium from Niger
"The Declaration ignores efforts to procure uranium from Niger. Why is the Iraqi regime hiding their uranium procurement?
US State Department "Fact Sheet"
December 19, 2002
"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
President Bush
State of the Union Address
January 28, 2003
"The IAEA has concluded, with the concurrence of outside experts, that these documents - which formed the basis for the reports of recent uranium transactions between Iraq and Niger - are in fact not authentic."
Mohammed ElBaradei
Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency
March 7, 2003
On Terrorist Connections with al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden
"The regime...has aided, trained and harbored terrorists, including operatives of al Qaeda."
President Bush
Address to the Nation
March 17, 2003
"There are no current links between the Iraqi regime and the al-Qaeda network, according to an official British intelligence report."
BBC News
February 5, 2003
"Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist network headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an associate and collaborator of Usama bin Laden and his al-Qaida lieutenants."
Secretary of State Colin Powell
Remarks to UN Security Council
February 5, 2003
"Most experts...dispute his possible role as Qaeda-Iraq link."
New York Times
February 10, 2003
"There is a really serious problem in intelligence. It’s virtually impossible to prove these kinds of conspiracies. . . . It is going to require a great deal more debate and reporting than simply accepting the U.S. statements without further review."
Anthony Cordesman
Former Director-Intelligence Assessment
US Department of Defense
Transcript of February 6, 2003 radio interview with Australian Broadcasting Corporation
On the Role of Oil
"American companies will have a big shot at Iraqi oil."
Ahmed Chalabi
Leader, Iraqi National Congress
(Reported by Washington Post Septembert 15, 2002)
"Iraq possesses huge reserves of oil and gas; reserves I'd love Chevron to have access to."
Kenneth T. Derr
Chevron CEO
1998 speech at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco
"It's pretty straightforward. France and Russia have oil companies and interests in Iraq. They should be told that if they are of assistance...we'll do the best we can to ensure that the new government and American companies work closely with them."
R. James Woolsey
Former Director
Central Intelligence Agency
"When there is regime change in Iraq, you could add three million to five million barrels of production to world supply. The successful prosecution of the war would be good for the economy."
Larry Lindsey
White House Economic Advisor
September 2002
"All Iraqi military and civilian personnel should listen carefully to this warning. In any conflict, your fate will depend on your action. Do not destroy oil wells."
President Bush
Address on the Start of War
March 20, 2003
"Economically, we just had no choice in Iraq. The country swims on a sea of oil."
Paul Wolfowitz
Deputy Secretary of Defense
May 31, 2003
On the Legal Grounds for a "Preemptive Self-Defense"
"The United States of America has the sovereign authority to use force in assuring its own national security."
President Bush
Address to the Nation
March 17, 2003
"Not only will the United States impose preemptive, unilateral military force when and where it chooses, but the nation will also punish those who engage in terror and aggression and will work to impose a universal moral clarity between good and evil."
President Bush
West Point Commencement Address
June 2002
"Under Resolutions 678 and 687 -- both still in effect -- the United States and our allies are authorized to use force in ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction."
President Bush
Address on the Start of War
March 20, 2003
"...a formal cease-fire is effective between Iraq and Kuwait and the Member States cooperating with Kuwait in accordance with resolution 678."
UN Security Council Resolution 687
April 3, 1991
"All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations."
United Nations Charter, Article 2, Section 4
"Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security."
United Nations Charter, Article 51
"The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all of its Members."
Ibid. Article 2, Section 1
"The United States has no right to invade another state because of speculative concerns about that state's possible future actions. The current international order does not support a special status for the United States or a singular right to exempt itself from the law."
Mary Ellen O'Connell, The Myth of Preemptive Self-Defense
The American Society of International Law Task Force on Terrorism
August 2002 |
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