Apropos to the Bitter Fruit discussion
Link to PDF
http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/docs/iraq_on_the_record.pdf
Executive Summary
On March 19, 2003, U.S. forces began military operations in Iraq.
Addressing the
nation about the purpose of the war on the day the bombing began, President
Bush stated: “The people of the United States and our friends and allies
will not
live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with
weapons of
mass murder.”
One year later, many doubts have been raised regarding the Administration’s
assertions about the threat posed by Iraq. Prior to the war in Iraq, the
President
and his advisors repeatedly claimed that Iraq possessed weapons of mass
destruction that jeopardized the security of the United States. The
failure to
discover these weapons after the war has led to questions about whether the
President and his advisors were candid in describing Iraq’s threat.
This report, which was prepared at the request of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, is
a
comprehensive examination of the statements made by the five Administration
officials most responsible for providing public information and shaping
public
opinion on Iraq: President George Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney,
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. It finds that the five
officials made
misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq in 125 public
appearances.
The report and an accompanying database identify 237 specific misleading
statements by the five officials.
later
The database does not include statements that appear in hindsight to be
erroneous but were accurate reflections
of the views of intelligence officials at the time they were made.
Excerpt
For precisely this reason, the Administration’s statements about Iraq’s
nuclear
capabilities had a large impact on congressional and public perceptions
about the
threat posed by Iraq. Many members of Congress were more influenced by the
Administration’s nuclear assertions than by any other piece of evidence.
Rep.
Waxman, for example, wrote to President Bush in June 2003 that in voting
for the
Iraq war resolution: “Like other members, I was particularly influenced by
your
views about Iraq’s nuclear intentions. Although chemical and biological
weapons
can inflict casualties, no threat is greater than the threat of nuclear
weapons.”13
Numerous members of Congress stressed Iraq’s nuclear threat in their floor
statements explaining their support of the resolution.14
Despite the significance of the nuclear issue, President Bush, Vice
President
Cheney, Secretary Powell, Secretary Rumsfeld, and National Security Advisor
Rice repeatedly misrepresented the nuclear threat posed by Iraq. The five
officials made 49 separate public appearances in which they made misleading
statements about Iraq’s nuclear threat. In these appearances, they made a
total of
81 misleading statements regarding Iraq’s nuclear activities.
These misleading statements generally fall into one of three categories:
(1)
misleading statements about the status of Iraq’s nuclear program, (2)
misleading
statements about the purpose of aluminum tubes sought by Iraq, and (3)
misleading statements about Iraq’s attempts to obtain uranium from Africa.
--
Doug
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