President Bush appeared on Meet the Press on February 8, 2004. Host Tim “Russert began with a question. ‘In light of not finding the weapons of mass destruction, do you believe the war in Iraq is a war of choice or a war of necessity?’ The president seemed perplexed and had clearly not thought about the war in these terms. ‘I think that’s an interesting question. Please elaborate on that a little bit. A war of choice or a war of necessity? It’s a war of necessity. We–in my judgment, we had no choice when we look at the intelligence I looked at that says the man [Saddam Hussein] was a threat.’ ”
– Richard N. Haass, War of Necessity, War of Choice, Pages 116-117