“The CIA reported in December 2002 that Ansar [al Islam] extremists had obtained VX nerve gas from the Iraqi regime. The report was first disclosed by Barton Gellman in the Washington Post on December 12 [2002]: ‘The Bush administration has received a credible report that Islamic extremists affiliated with al Qaeda took possession of a […]
12/11/2002
“In a speech on Dec. 11 [2002], CIA director George J. Tenet said that interrogations overseas have yielded significant returns recently. He calculated that worldwide efforts to capture or kill terrorists had eliminated about one-third of the al Qaeda leadership. ‘Almost half of our successes against senior al Qaeda members has come in recent months,’ […]
12/8/2002
In an interview on Face the Nation on December 8, 2002, Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) said: ” ‘We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction.’ ” […]
12/8/2002
In a meeting of U.S. generals on December 8, 2002, CENTCOM (Central Command) Deputy Commander Lieutenant General John “Abizaid repeated that he was still worried about how CENTCOM would control and administer Iraq after Baghdad fell, a subject that had received relatively little discussion in Washington. He said that CENTCOM should gather up any information […]
12/7/2002
“Iraq’s declaration of its weapons programs, delivered to [chief U.N. weapons inspector] Hans Blix in early December [7] 2002 under the terms of Resolution 1441, left much to be desired. There was little new information in its 12,000 pages, many of which were reprinted documents that had already been given to U.N. inspectors in the […]
12/7/2002
“…when Iraq released the 12,200-page weapons declaration to the U.N. on December 7, 2002, the [Bush] administration included in its eight essential omissions and deceptions the assertion: ‘The declaration ignores efforts to procure uranium from Niger.’ ” – Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke, America Alone, Page 214 […]
12/7/2002
“The CIA-written ‘U.S. Analysis of Iraq’s Declaration’ [to the UN on December 7, 2002] was unequivocal: Saddam Hussein was defying the UN’s Resolution 1441 and was in noncompliance because Iraq in its declaration fails to acknowledge or explain procurement of high specification aluminum tubes…[and] fails to acknowledge efforts to procure uranium from Niger…” – Thomas […]
12/7/2002
Regarding the U.S. government’s alleged unilateral redaction of a 12,000 page UN report on Iraq’s WMD capabilities, dated December 7, 2002, James Cusick and Felicity Arbuthnot reported in the December 22, 2002, edition of The Sunday Herald that “Hans von Sponeck, the former assistant secretary general of the UN and the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in […]
12/7/2002
“On December 7 [2002], Iraq filed a 12,000-page cut-and-paste declaration with the United Nations–required under Resolution 1441–asserting that it possessed no unconventional weapons stockpiles or any nuclear program.” – Michael Isikoff and David Corn, Hubris, Page 163 […]
12/7/2002
“On December 7 [2002], Iraq submitted an 11,807-page weapons declaration that it said demonstrated, and proved, that it had no weapons of mass destruction. [Vice President Dick] Cheney proposed to the NSC [National Security Council] that the president [Bush] declare it a material breach, since the declaration was clearly false, he [Cheney] said, and proved […]