5/3/2003

President George W. Bush in reply to a question on the possibility of not fading WMDs in Iraq: “Yes — the question is about weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The United States — United Nations Security Council voted 1441, which made the declaration it had weapons of mass destruction. It’s well-known it had weapons of mass destruction. And we’ve also got to recognize that he spent 14 years hiding weapons of mass destruction. I mean, he spent an entire decade making sure that inspectors would never find them. Iraq’s the size of the state of California. It’s got tunnels, caves, all kinds of complexes. We’ll find them. And it’s just going to be a matter of time to do so.”

 – Transcript, “President Bush, P.M. Howard Discuss Operation Iraqi Freedom,” George W. Bush – White House Archives online, Accessed on 7/18/2016