At the September 4, 2002, meeting where President Bush was briefing Congressional leaders about needing their vote to give him permission to go to war against Iraq, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) said to President Bush: ” ‘if you go in there, you’re likely to be stuck in a quagmire that will endanger your […]
9/4/2002
On September 4, 2002, President Bush summoned 18 senior members of the House and Senate. “He needed a quick vote in Congress on a resolution that would grant him the authority to take on Saddam, perhaps with military action. …He wanted this vote within six weeks–before Congress left town so members could campaign for reelection.” […]
9/4/2002
“On September 4 [2002], [President] Bush invited 18 key Senate and House members to the White House. ‘Iraq is on a lot of people’s minds,’ the president said, ‘because [Saddam] is a serious threat to the United States and his neighbors and his own citizens…Doing nothing is not an option…I expect Congress to be part […]
9/3/2002
As stated in “The Report of the Iraq Inquiry – Executive Summary”: “104. In his press conference at Sedgefield on September 3, 2002, Mr Blair indicated that time and patience were running out and that there were difficulties with the existing poilcy of containment he also announced the publication of the Iraq dossier, stating that: ‘ […]
9/3/2002
“On September 3 [2002], [Chief of Staff Andrew] Card gathered [National Security Advisor Condoleezza] Rice, [Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen] Hadley, [Vice presidential Chief of Staff] Scooter Libby, White House communications chief Dan Bartlett, and others in the Situation Room for the first meeting of what would be called the White House Iraq Group, or […]
9/3/2002
Regarding a series of meetings with policy officials in the defense ministries of Britain, France, and Germany on September 3-4, 2002, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith wrote: ” ‘U.S. policy in the war on terrorism is not based on vengeance or retaliation, but…on the requirements of self-defense.’ …In explaining our focus on Saddam […]
9/2/2002
“On September 2 [2002], the president [Bush] had lunch with an unhappy [Secretary of State Colin] Powell and told him, with [National Security Advisor Condoleezza] Rice at the table, that he was skeptical that weapons inspections would work [in Iraq] but that he was committed to going to the U.N. to try.” – Elisabeth Bumiller, […]
9/1/2002
“In a September 1, 2002, interview with the BBC, [Secretary of State Colin] Powell said weapons inspectors should return to Iraq as a first step in dealing with Saddam. This contradicted the Defense [Department’s] point of view, which [Vice President Dick] Cheney shared, that inspectors would not be of great use.” – Stefan Halper and […]
9/1/2002
From information in a Los Angeles Times article on September 1, 2002: “It is believed that these men [9/11 hijackers Mohammed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, and Ziad Jarrah] and others were recruited [in Hamburg, Germany] into al-Qaeda in a largely informal process that began by drawing them into a deeper commitment to Islam and a more […]
8/30/2002
While discussing President Bush’s interest in Iraq at the Convention of the Future of Europe on August 30, 2002, British House of Commons leader Robin Cook said: ” ‘We are in a unique period in the history of the world, in which there is one global superpower without a rival, and yet it is also […]