Comment Withheld

"Iraq possesses more than 10 tons of uranium and more than a ton of low enriched uranium. Small facilities are capable of handling these amounts, and, even taking into account process losses, there is still enough uranium to make three nuclear weapons. Iraq has already designated a site for nuclear weapon testing and if intelligence estimates are correct the first tests could happen by 2005." Khidhir Hamza, editorial in Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2001

"There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt that he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies and against us."

Dick Cheney, August 26, 2002

"I would remind you that when the inspectors first went into Iraq and were denied - finally denied access [in 1998], a report came out of the Atomic - the IAEA that they were six months away from developing a weapon. "

George W. Bush, September 7, 2002

"The International Atomic Energy Agency says that a report cited by President Bush as evidence that Iraq in 1998 was 'six months away' from developing a nuclear weapon does not exist."

Washington Times, September 27, 2002

"Al Qaeda terrorists escaped from Afghanistan and are known to be in Iraq."

George W. Bush, September 12, 2002

"A new report released on September 9, 2002 from the International Institute for Strategic Studies - an independent research organization - concludes that Saddam Hussein could build a nuclear bomb within months if he were able to obtain fissile material."

Supporting materials for GWB Sept. 12 speech, as published on whitehouse.gov.

"Iraq has stockpiled biological and chemical weapons, and is rebuilding the facilities used to make more of those weapons."

"We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have."

George W. Bush, October 5, 2002

"The President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense would not assert as plainly and bluntly as they have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction if it was not true, and if they did not have a solid basis for saying it."

Ari Fleischer, December 6, 2002

"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa". George W. Bush, State of the Union address, January 28, 2003

"Iraq both poses a continuing threat to the national security of the United States and international peace and security in the Persian Gulf region and remains in material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations by, among other things, continuing to possess and develop a significant chemical and biological weapons capability, actively seeking a nuclear weapons capability, and supporting and harboring terrorist organizations." Hillary Clinton, February 5, 2003

"Mr. Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, opened a two-front war of words on Capitol Hill, calling the recent estimate by Gen. Eric K. Shinseki of the Army that several hundred thousand troops would be needed in postwar Iraq, "wildly off the mark." Pentagon officials have put the figure closer to 100,000 troops. Mr. Wolfowitz then dismissed articles in several newspapers this week asserting that Pentagon budget specialists put the cost of war and reconstruction at $60 billion to $95 billion in this fiscal year. He said it was impossible to predict accurately a war's duration, its destruction and the extent of rebuilding afterward." New York Times, February 28, 2003.

"About 140,000 troops are currently deployed [in Iraq]."

"Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said last week that "we need a lot more military" to win the final stages of the war in Iraq. And Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), ranking minority member on the Foreign Relations Committee, also said last week that the administration had "vastly underestimated" the policing requirements for postwar Iraq. " Washington Post, August 24, 2003

"I will soon submit to Congress a request for $87 billion." George W. Bush, September 7, 2003

"We are launching this attack, already too long delayed, primarily to defend ourselves. This is a response to reasonable fear. We know Saddam is developing terror weapons and is bound on vengeance; we know he has ties to terror organisations eager to use those weapons for more mass murder; we know he can bamboozle the UN inspectors again; we know Americans are terror's prime targets." William Safire, New York Times column, March 11, 2003

"We know that this man has got weapons of mass destruction. That sounds like a slightly abstract phrase, but what we are talking about is chemical weapons, biological weapons, viruses, bacilli and anthrax - 10,000 litres of anthrax - that he has. UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, March 17, 2003

"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." George W. Bush, television address, March 17, 2003

"And I said on my program, if, if the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again" Bill O'Reilly, March 18, 2003

You wanted war but it's not done / You bombed us first and thought you won / Now all the rest of you can wait / We still recall who bombed Kuwait / Yakety yak (Bomb Iraq) Rush Limbaugh radio show song parody, March 20, 2003

"One of our top objectives is to find and destroy the WMD. There are a number of sites." Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clark, March 22, 2003
"We know where they [the weapons of mass destruction] are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." Donald Rumsfeld, March 30, 2003

"Before people crow about the absence of weapons of mass destruction, I suggest they wait a bit." Tony Blair, 28 April, 2003

"Obviously the administration intends to publicize all the weapons of mass destruction U.S. forces find - and there will be plenty." Robert Kagan, April 9, 2003

"We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories. You remember when Colin Powell stood up in front of the world, and he said, Iraq has got laboratories, mobile labs to build biological weapons. They're illegal. They're against the United Nations resolutions, and we've so far discovered two. And we'll find more weapons as time goes on. But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them " George W. Bush, interview with Polish television, May 29, 2003

"Engineering experts from the Defense Intelligence Agency have come to believe that the most likely use for the two mysterious trailers found in Iraq was to produce hydrogen for weather balloons rather than to make biological weapons, government officials say."

San Jose Mercury News, August 9, 2003

"The truth is that for reasons that have a lot to do with the U.S. government bureaucracy we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on which was weapons of mass destruction as the core reason." Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz, interviewed by Vanity Fair, July 2003
"Q: Does the President consider the matter [of forged documents ending up in the State of the Union address] closed now?

MR. FLEISCHER: Yes, the President has moved on. And I think, frankly, much of the country has moved on, as well." Ari Fleischer, press briefing, July 12, 2003

"We gave [Saddam Hussein] a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in." George W. Bush, quoted in Washington Post, July 15, 2003