Bush Reasserts Prewar Iraqi WMD Threat

By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — In the face of scant evidence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction before the U.S.-led invasion last year, President George W. Bush last night reasserted his prewar contention that the U.S. action was justified by a WMD threat posed by former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

“Had we failed to act, the dictator’s weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day,” Bush said in his third annual State of the Union address.

He said, further, that the war has served, and would continue to serve, as a useful tool to persuade other nations to give up their illicit WMD activities.

“Had we failed to act, Security Council resolutions on Iraq would have been revealed as empty threats, weakening the United Nations and encouraging defiance by dictators around the world,” he said.

Bush’s address, however, made no mention of intelligence information about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that he and other and top administration officials previously cited to justify the war — a matter of intense controversy with critics having charged the administration with making unsupported and exaggerated claims of Iraqi arms. U.S. inspectors have discovered no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Instead, Bush referred nonspecifically to “programs” and “activities” described in an interim report issued last fall by U.S. inspections leader David Kay.

He said also, “We are seeking all the facts.”

Addressing both houses of Congress and appearing on all major television networks, Busch said the Iraqi threat justified the invasion even without U.N. Security Council authorization.

“America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people,” he said.

At an earlier point in the speech, he said U.S. inspectors have discovered illicit Iraqi WMD efforts.

“Already the Kay report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations,” he said.

The Kay report, released last October provided no definitive evidence of illicit weapons or programs. It says that no evidence had been found of any chemical, biological or nuclear weapons and there was no evidence of active chemical or nuclear programs before the war. It says there were preliminary conclusions of Iraqi “WMD-related program activities,” based partially on information suggesting research had taken place on organisms that could be used for biological warfare and on discoveries of concealed equipment (see GSN, Oct. 3, 2003).

The report also says there was evidence of missile development activities that would eventually have led to a breach of U.N. restrictions. The Washington Post has since reported that some Iraqi missile activities never went beyond sketches in a notebook.

Without disclosing any further evidence or releasing a final report, Kay reportedly now is seeking to leave his position and many of the weapons inspectors reportedly either have returned to the United States or were diverted to other activities in Iraq (see GSN, Jan. 16).

At other points in the speech, Bush suggested that the U.S. action in Iraq has had positive effects in combating WMD proliferation.

“Because of American leadership and resolve, the world is changing for the better. Last month, the leader of Libya voluntarily pledged to disclose and dismantle all of his regime’s weapons of mass destruction programs, including a uranium enrichment project for nuclear weapons. Col. [Muammar] Qadhafi correctly judged that his country would be better off, and far more secure, without weapons of mass murder,” he said.

“Nine months of intense negotiations involving the United States and Great Britain succeeded with Libya, while 12 years of diplomacy with Iraq did not. And one reason is clear: For diplomacy to be effective, words must be credible and no one can now doubt the word of America,” he said.

With respect to current negotiations with Iran and North Korea over suspected nuclear weapons activities, Bush said, “different threats require different strategies.”

“Along with nations in the region, we are insisting that North Korea eliminate its nuclear program. America and the international community are demanding that Iran meet its commitments and not develop nuclear weapons. America is committed to keeping the world’s most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the world’s most dangerous regimes.”

Speaking on behalf of the Democratic Party in response to Bush’s speech, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) criticized his continuing assertion that Iraq posed a WMD threat.

“The president led us into the Iraq war on the basis of unproven assertions without evidence. He embraced a radical doctrine of pre-emptive war unprecedented in our history and he failed to build a true international coalition,” she said.

Pelosi also charged the administration with failing to devote enough resources for securing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons materials around the world, an apparent reference to the U.S. Defense Department’s Cooperative Threat Reduction program and comparable Energy Department activities.

“One hundred percent of the enriched uranium and other material for weapons of mass destruction must be secured. Today, the administration has refused to commit the resources necessary to prevent [those materials] from falling into the hands of terrorists,” she said.

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