Sunday, February 8, 2004

Bush on *Meet the Press* (5)

According to the transcript of David Kay's testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Kay had the following to say in response to pressing questions from pro-Administration Sen. John Warner (my emphasis):

Senator Warner, I think the world is far safer with the disappearance and the removal of Saddam Hussein. I have said - I actually think this may be one of those cases where it was even more dangerous than we thought. I think when we have the complete record you're going to discover that after 1998 it became a regime that was totally corrupt. Individuals were out for their own protection. And in a world where we know others are seeking WMD, the likelihood at some point in the future of a seller and a buyer meeting up would have made that a far more dangerous country than even we anticipated with what may turn out not to be a fully accurate estimate.

Kay's answer here clearly refers to a distant, speculative possibility of what might happen at some point in the future if one of the WMD programs was revised. Even assuming that Kay is trying to put the best face on the Administration's case for war, what he says there clearly does not mean that Iraq was (even potentially) more of a threat in March 2003 than what US intelligence thought.

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