“Asked at a New Year’s Eve [2002] press conference from Crawford, Texas, about ‘a possible war with Iraq looming,’ Bush replied, ‘You said we’re headed to war in Iraq–I don’t know why you say that. I hope we’re not headed to war in Iraq. I’m the person who gets to decide, not you. I hope this can be done peacefully. We’ve got a military presence there to remind Saddam Hussein, however, that when I say we will lead a coalition of the willing to disarm him if he chooses not to disarm, I mean it.’ ”
– Craig Unger, The Fall of the House of Bush, Page 268