mjh's blog

‘It’s all a web of lies.’

Mon 02/02/04 at 1:06 pm

CNN.com – Transcript of Powell’s U.N. presentation – Feb. 5, 2003 (all 10 pages are online)

Iraqi denials of supporting terrorism take the place alongside the other Iraqi denials of weapons of mass destruction. It is all a web of lies. …

The United States will not and cannot run that risk to the American people. Leaving Saddam Hussein in possession of weapons of mass destruction for a few more months or years is not an option, not in a post-September 11th world. …

Today Iraq still poses a threat and Iraq still remains in material breach.

Tallahassee Democrat | 02/02/2004 | Miscalculation or outright lie?

The Bush administration was left with a single rationale: Iraq’s imminent threat to America.
Thus came Powell’s Feb. 5 multimedia extravaganza before the Security Council. You may remember it.

“Look at this (satellite image). This one is about a weapons munition facility, a facility that holds ammunition at a place called Taji. This is one of about 65 such facilities in Iraq. We know that this one housed chemical munitions….

“Here, you see 15 munitions bunkers in yellow and red outlines. The four that are in the red squares represent active chemical munitions bunkers.”

Again:

“At this biological-related facility, on Nov. 25, just two days before inspections resumed, this truck caravan appeared, something we almost never see at this facility, and we monitor it carefully and regularly. … Five large cargo trucks appeared along with the truck-mounted crane to move missiles. We saw this kind of house-cleaning close to 30 times.”

Oh, and enough anthrax (one spoonful of which was enough to shut down the U.S. Senate in the fall of 2001) to “fill tens upon tens of thousands of teaspoons.”

And this: “My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we’re giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence.“