Analysis of Public Statements made by President George Bush
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| The Bush Administration's Public Statements on Iraq |
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| President George W. Bush on Nuclear Capabilities: |
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| "Should Iraq acquire fissile material, it would be able to build a nuclear weapon within a year." |
| Source: Address to the United Nations General Assembly, White House (9/12/2002). |
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Explanation This statement was misleading because it failed to provide the context that the U.S. intelligence community believed that Iraq probably would not be able to make a nuclear weapon until near the end of the decade. | | |
| The Bush Administration's Public Statements on Iraq |
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| President George W. Bush on Nuclear Capabilities: |
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| "The first time we may be completely certain he has a --nuclear weapon is when, God forbids, he uses one." |
| Source: Address to the United Nations General Assembly, White House (9/12/2002). |
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Explanation This statement was misleading because it starkly evoked a threat of Iraq detonating a nuclear bomb when the intelligence community was deeply divided on the issue of whether Iraq was actively pursuing its nuclear program. | | |
| The Bush Administration's Public Statements on Iraq |
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| President George W. Bush on Al-Qaeda: |
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| "With every step the Iraqi regime takes toward gaining and deploying the most terrible weapons, our own options to confront that regime will narrow. And if an emboldened regime were to supply these weapons to terrorist allies, then the attacks of September the 11th would be a prelude to far greater horrors." |
| Source: Address to the United Nations General Assembly, White House (9/12/2002). |
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Explanation This statement was misleading because it evoked the threat of Iraq providing terrorists who would attack the United States with weapons of mass destruction. According to the National Intelligence Estimate, the intelligence community had "low confidence" in that scenario, and Iraq appeared to be "drawing a line short of conducting terrorist attacks" against the United States for fear of providing cause for war. | | |
| The Bush Administration's Public Statements on Iraq |
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| President George W. Bush on Nuclear Capabilities: |
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| "Iraq has made several attempts to buy high-strength aluminum tubes used to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon." |
| Source: Address to the United Nations General Assembly, White House (9/12/2002). |
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Explanation This statement was misleading because it suggested that Iraq sought aluminum tubes for use in its nuclear weapons program, failing to mention that the government's most experienced technical experts at the U.S. Department of Energy concluded that the tubes were "poorly suited" for this purpose. | | |
| The Bush Administration's Public Statements on Iraq |
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| President George W. Bush on Urgent Threat: |
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| "The history, the logic, and the facts lead to one conclusion: Saddam Hussein's regime is a grave and gathering danger. To suggest otherwise is to hope against the evidence. To assume this regime's good faith is to bet the lives of millions and the peace of the world in a reckless gamble. And this is a risk we must not take." |
| Source: Address to the United Nations General Assembly, White House (9/12/2002). |
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Explanation This statement was misleading because it suggested that Iraq posed an urgent threat despite the fact that the U.S. intelligence community had deep divisions and divergent points of view regarding Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. As Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet noted in February 2004, "Let me be clear: analysts differed on several important aspects of these programs and those debates were spelled out in the Estimate. They never said there was an 'imminent' threat." | | |
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