After proposing a cosmetic AIDS initiative on which he didn't follow through, President Bush in his last State of the Union Address ("the SOTU" to hardcore political junkies) of 01/28/03 talked about the horrible threat to the United States from Iraq:
Twelve years ago, Saddam Hussein faced the prospect of being the last casualty in a war he had started and lost. To spare himself, he agreed to disarm of all weapons of mass destruction. For the next 12 years, he systematically violated that agreement. He pursued chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, even while inspectors were in his country. Nothing to date has restrained him from his pursuit of these weapons -- not economic sanctions, not isolation from the civilized world, not even cruise missile strikes on his military facilities.
Reality check: We now know that, in fact, the international sanctions, the military pressure and the UN inspections actually did stop the Iraqi nuclear programs.
The United Nations concluded in 1999 that Saddam Hussein had biological weapons sufficient to produce over 25,000 liters of anthrax -- enough doses to kill several million people. He hasn't accounted for that material. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed it.
Reality check: None found and the search has been practically if not officially given up.
The United Nations concluded that Saddam Hussein had materials sufficient to produce more than 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin -- enough to subject millions of people to death by respiratory failure. He hadn't accounted for that material. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed it.
Reality check: None found and the search has been practically if not officially given up. (A small vial of botulin was found that was not the kind needed for creating weapons.)
(Cont. in Part 2)
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