What a Tangled Web We Weave . . .

. . . when first we practice to deceive!





Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.

Dick Cheney

Speech to VFW National Convention

August 26, 2002





Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons.

George W. Bush

Speech to UN General Assembly

September 12, 2002





If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world.

Ari Fleischer

Press Briefing

December 2, 2002





We know for a fact that there are weapons there.

Ari Fleischer

Press Briefing

January 9, 2003





Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent.

George W. Bush

State of the Union Address

January 28, 2003





We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more.

Colin Powell

Remarks to UN Security Council

February 5, 2003





We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have.

George W. Bush

Radio Address

February 8, 2003





If Iraq had disarmed itself, gotten rid of its weapons of mass destruction over the past 12 years, or over the last several months since (UN Resolution) 1441 was enacted, we would not be facing the crisis that we now have before us . . . But the suggestion that we are doing this because we want to go to every country in the Middle East and rearrange all of its pieces is not correct.

Colin Powell

Interview with Radio France International

February 28, 2003





So has the strategic decision been made to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction by the leadership in Baghdad? . . . I think our judgment has to be clearly not.

Colin Powell

Remarks to UN Security Council

March 7, 2003





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.

George W. Bush

Address to the Nation

March 17, 2003





Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly . . . all this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes.

Ari Fleisher

Press Briefing

March 21, 2003





There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. And . . . as this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them.

Gen. Tommy Franks

Press Conference

March 22, 2003





I have no doubt we're going to find big stores of weapons of mass destruction.

Defense Policy Board member Kenneth Adelman

Washington Post, p. A27

March 23, 2003





One of our top objectives is to find and destroy the WMD. There are a number of sites.

Pentagon Spokeswoman Victoria Clark

Press Briefing

March 22, 2003





We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.

Donald Rumsfeld

ABC Interview

March 30, 2003





Obviously the administration intends to publicize all the weapons of mass destruction U.S. forces find -- and there will be plenty.

Neocon scholar Robert Kagan

Washington Post op-ed

April 9, 2003





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. And we have high confidence it will be found.

Ari Fleischer

Press Briefing

April 10, 2003





We are learning more as we interrogate or have discussions with Iraqi scientists and people within the Iraqi structure, that perhaps he destroyed some, perhaps he dispersed some. And so we will find them.

George W. Bush

NBC Interview

April 24, 2003





There are people who in large measure have information that we need . . . so that we can track down the weapons of mass destruction in that country.

Donald Rumsfeld

Press Briefing

April 25, 2003





We'll find them. It'll be a matter of time to do so.

George W. Bush

Remarks to Reporters

May 3, 2003





I'm absolutely sure that there are weapons of mass destruction there and the evidence will be forthcoming. We're just getting it just now.

Colin Powell

Remarks to Reporters

May 4, 2003





We never believed that we'd just tumble over weapons of mass destruction in that country.

Donald Rumsfeld

Fox News Interview

May 4, 2003





I'm not surprised if we begin to uncover the weapons program of Saddam Hussein -- because he had a weapons program.

George W. Bush

Remarks to Reporters

May 6, 2003





U.S. officials never expected that "we were going to open garages and find" weapons of mass destruction.

Condoleeza Rice

Reuters Interview

May 12, 2003





I just don't know whether it was all destroyed years ago -- I mean, there's no question that there were chemical weapons years ago -- whether they were destroyed right before the war, (or) whether they're still hidden.

Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, Commander 101st Airborne

Press Briefing

May 13, 2003





Before the war, there's no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical. I expected them to be found. I still expect them to be found.

Gen. Michael Hagee, Commandant of the Marine Corps

Interview with Reporters

May 21, 2003





Given time, given the number of prisoners now that we're interrogating, I'm confident that we're going to find weapons of mass destruction.

Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff

NBC Today Show interview

May 26, 2003





They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer.

Donald Rumsfeld

Remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations

May 27, 2003





For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction (as justification for invading Iraq) because it was the one reason everyone could agree on.

Paul Wolfowitz

Vanity Fair interview

May 28, 2003

It was a surprise to me then — it remains a surprise to me now — that we have not uncovered weapons, as you say, in some of the forward dispersal sites. Believe me, it's not for lack of trying. We've been to virtually every ammunition supply point between the Kuwaiti border and Baghdad, but they're simply not there.

Lt. Gen. James Conway, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force

Press Interview

May 30, 2003

Do I think we're going to find something?  Yeah, I kind of do, because I think there's a lot of information out there."

Maj. Gen. Keith Dayton, Defense Intelligence Agency

Press Conference

May 30, 2003