Bush On Iraq

Rewind to January 2003
Hold the rewind button a little longer. More from the White House press release archive:

• 30 January 2003:
  Vice President Cheney:
  Saddam Hussein's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction poses a grave danger -- not only to his neighbors, but also to the United States. His regime aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda. He could decide secretly to provide weapons of mass destruction to terrorists for use against us. And as the President said on Tuesday night, it would take just one vial, one canister, one crate to bring a day of horror to our nation unlike any we have ever known.
  
  That is why confronting the threat posed by Iraq is not a distraction from the war on terror, it is absolutely crucial to winning the war on terror.
  
  
• 28 January 2003:
  Bush, State of the Union
  Our nation and the world must learn the lessons of the Korean Peninsula and not allow an even greater threat to rise up in Iraq. A brutal dictator, with a history of reckless aggression, with ties to terrorism, with great potential wealth, will not be permitted to dominate a vital region and threaten the United States...
  
  The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. America will not accept a serious and mounting threat to our country, and our friends and our allies. The United States will ask the U.N. Security Council to convene on February the 5th to consider the facts of Iraq's ongoing defiance of the world. Secretary of State Powell will present information and intelligence about Iraqi's legal -- Iraq's illegal weapons programs, its attempt to hide those weapons from inspectors, and its links to terrorist groups.
  
  We will consult. But let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm, for the safety of our people and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him.
  
  
• 23 January 2003:
  "Why We Know Iraq is Lying"
  By Condoleezza Rice
  Originally appeared in the New York Times on January 23, 2003
  
  

There is no public statement from the White House during this period acknowledging potential costs -- in lives or dollars or good will or the unintended consequence of creating a terrorist rallying cry -- of our initiating a war with Iraq. Somehow, I thought I was going to find some kind of acknowledgment of costs or the need for post-overthrow planning. Nada.


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