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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| "If the Iraq regime is able to produce, buy, or steal an amount of highly enriched uranium a little larger than a single softball, it could have a nuclear weapon in less than one year." |
| Source: President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat; Remarks by the President on Iraq, White House (10/7/2002). |
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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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| "Knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof - the smoking gun - that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." |
| Source: President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat; Remarks by the President on Iraq, White House (10/7/2002). |
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Explanation This statement was misleading because it starkly evoked a threat of Iraq detonating a nuclear bomb when there was deep division in the intelligence community 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 Chemical and Biological Weapons: |
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| "In defiance of the United Nations, Iraq has stockpiled biological and chemical weapons, and is rebuilding the facilities used to make more of those weapons." |
| Source: President: Iraqi Regime Danger to America is "Grave and Growing", White House (10/5/2002). |
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Explanation This statement was misleading because it professed certainty when the intelligence community provided only an "estimate." According to CIA Director George Tenet, "it is important to underline the word estimate. Because not everything we analyze can be known to a standard of absolute proof." In addition, the statement failed to acknowledge the Defense Intelligence Agency position that: "There is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons or where Iraq has -- or will -- establish its chemical warfare agent production facilities." | | |
| The Bush Administration's Public Statements on Iraq |
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| President George W. Bush on Urgent Threat: |
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| "On its present course, the Iraqi regime is a threat of unique urgency. . . . it has developed weapons of mass death." |
| Source: President, House Leadership Agree on Iraq Resolution, White House (10/2/2002). |
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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." | | |
| The Bush Administration's Public Statements on Iraq |
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| President George W. Bush on Chemical and Biological Weapons: |
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| "We know the designs of the Iraqi regime. In defiance of pledges to the U.N., it has stockpiled biological and chemical weapons." |
| Source: President, House Leadership Agree on Iraq Resolution, White House (10/2/2002). |
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Explanation This statement was misleading because it professed certainty when the intelligence community provided only an "estimate." According to CIA Director George Tenet, "it is important to underline the word estimate. Because not everything we analyze can be known to a standard of absolute proof." In addition, the statement failed to acknowledge the Defense Intelligence Agency position that: "There is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons or where Iraq has -- or will -- establish its chemical warfare agent production facilities." | | |
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