9/15/2002

Undersecretary of Defense (Comptroller) Dov Zakheim wrote: “As Congress returned to Washington from its summer recess in September 2002, it was becoming increasingly clear that the [Bush] administration was planning to attack Iraq, despite its continued assurances that the United States would not launch a military operation if Saddam complied with demands to open his facilities to UN inspectors. That meant that the administration had to continue to fund defense programs without reference to Iraq. It was when [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld called me into his office to tell me that I would be the coordinator for Afghan reconstruction that I concluded beyond a shadow of a doubt that no matter what Saddam, or, for that matter, any government or the United Nations might do, the United States was definitely going to war with Iraq.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]

 – Dov S. Zakheim, A Vulcan’s Tale, Pages 167-168