10/7/2002

In a speech at the Cincinnati Museum Center (Ohio) on October 7, 2002, President Bush said: “Iraq was ‘a grave threat to peace’ because of its ‘history of aggression’ and ‘drive toward an arsenal of terror.’ Iraq ‘possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons’ and ‘is seeking nuclear weapons.’ Bush then went on to explain ‘why Iraq is different from other countries or regimes that also have terrible weapons’: ‘…the threat from Iraq stands alone–because it gathers the most serious dangers of our age in one place. Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction are controlled by a murderous tyrant [Saddam Hussein] who has already used chemical weapons to kill thousands of people. The same tyrant has tried to dominate the Middle East, has invaded and occupied a small neighbor, has struck other nations without warning, and holds an unrelenting hostility toward the United States. By its past and present actions, by its technological capabilities, by the merciless nature of the regime, Iraq is unique.’ ”

 – Jeffrey Record, Wanting War, Pages 54-55