“…on January 13 [2003], [President] Bush told [Secretary of State Colin] Powell… ‘I really think I’m going to have to take this guy [Saddam Hussein] out…’ ” – Elisabeth Bumiller, Condoleezza Rice: An American Life, Page 201 […]
1/13/2003
On January 13, 2003, “President Bush summoned Secretary of State Colin Powell for a 12-minute Oval Office meeting to say he had decided on war with Iraq. …The president very reluctantly confirmed to me [journalist Bob Woodward] that he had asked Powell directly for his support but added testily a rather obvious point. ‘I didn’t […]
1/13/2003
On “January 13 [2003], [Secretary of State Colin] Powell and [President] Bush met in the Oval Office…The president said he had make up his mind on war [with Iraq]. The US should go to war…’Are you with me on this?’ the president asked him now. ‘I think I have to do this, I want you […]
1/13/2003
On January 13, 2003, “Lieutenant General Michael Hayden, the NSA [National Security Agency] director, met with his agency’s top officials…for a highly classified ‘town meeting.’…[Hayden] formally issued what was called a ‘Statement of Director’s Intent’ for a war with Iraq.” – Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack, Pages 268-269 […]
1/13/2003
On January 13, 2003, Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar al Sultan met with President Bush. “…the president said that he was receiving advice and reports from some in his administration that in the event of war he [Bush] would have to contend with a massive Arab and Islamic reaction that would put American interests at risk… […]
1/11/2003
Then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wrote: “On January 11, 2003, I approved the deployment of an additional thirty-five thousand troops, with aircraft and warships, to the Gulf region, sending still another signal [to Saddam] that the time for cooperation was dwindling.” – Donald Rumsfeld, Known and Unknown, Page 443 […]
1/11/2003
Vice President Dick “Cheney invited [Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar al Sultan] to his West Wing office on Saturday, January 11, 2003. [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld and JCS [Joint Chiefs of Staff] Chairman General Richard B. Myers were also there….One purpose of the meeting was to convince Bandar that US forces would have to be […]
1/10/2003
“At 2:15 PM on January 10 [2003], [President] Bush and [Vice President Dick] Cheney met privately with three leading Iraqi dissidents [director of a foundation promoting human rights Rend Francke, a doctor from Tikrit Hatem Mukhlis, and author Kanan Makiya] in the Oval Office. The president was blunt….’I believe Saddam Hussein is a threat to […]
1/9/2003
In a UN Security Council meeting on January 9, 2003, chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix shared his comments on Iraq’s December 7, 2002, declaration of its weapons programs: “…the declaration was ‘rich in volume but poor in new information about weapons issues and practically devoid of new evidence on such issues.’ “ – Hans […]
1/9/2003
“UNMOVIC [United Nations Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission] inspectors could not say with certainty that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, [chief UN weapons inspector] Hans Blix reported to the [UN] Security Council on January 9 [2003], but neither could they say it did not. So far, they had found no ‘smoking gun.’ Inspections were […]