“At 1:15 P.M. On October 2 [2002], [President] Bush appeared with dozens of lawmakers…in the [White House’s] Rose Garden to announce agreement on a bipartisan resolution.” The resolution was to give Bush the authority to use all means that he determined to be appropriate, including force, to deal with the threat posed by Iraq. “Declaring that ‘on its present course, the Iraqi regime is a threat of unique urgency,’ Bush said, ‘the dictator is a student of Stalin…I urge all members of Congress to consider this resolution with the greatest of care. The choice before them could not be more consequential.’ ”
– Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack, Pages 200-201