Vice President Richard Cheney - Inaccurate and Misleading Statements about Iraq

Bush on Iraq; The Bush Administration's Misleading and Inaccurate Public Statements on Iraq

Mission Not Accomplished, Cover of Time Magazine

Analysis of Public Statements made by Vice President Richard Cheney

The Bush Administration's Public Statements on Iraq

Vice President Richard Cheney on Al-Qaeda:

"His regime has had high-level contacts with al Qaeda going back a decade and has provided training to al Qaeda terrorists."

Source: Remarks by the Vice President at the Air National Guard Senior Leadership Conference, White House (12/2/2002).

Explanation This statement was misleading because it suggested that Iraq was providing support to al Qaeda. In fact, the U.S. intelligence community had conflicting evidence on this issue and was divided regarding whether there was an operational relationship.

The Bush Administration's Public Statements on Iraq

Vice President Richard Cheney on Nuclear Capabilities:

"I don't want to talk about, obviously, specific intelligence sources, but it's now public that, in fact, he has been seeking to acquire, and we have been able to intercept and prevent him from acquiring through this particular channel, the kinds of tubes that are necessary to build a centrifuge. And the centrifuge is required to take low-grade uranium and enhance it into highly enriched uranium, which is what you have to have in order to build a bomb."

Source: Meet the Press, NBC (9/8/2002).

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

Vice President Richard Cheney on Nuclear Capabilities:

"[H]e is, in fact, actively and aggressively seeking to acquire nuclear weapons."

Source: Meet the Press, NBC (9/8/2002).

Explanation This statement was misleading because it failed to acknowledge the intelligence community's deep division on the issue of whether Iraq was actively pursuing its nuclear program.

The Bush Administration's Public Statements on Iraq

Vice President Richard Cheney on Nuclear Capabilities:

"But we do know, with absolute certainty, that he is using his procurement system to acquire the equipment he needs in order to enrich uranium to build a nuclear weapon."

Source: Meet the Press, NBC (9/8/2002).

Explanation This statement was misleading because it failed to acknowledge the intelligence community's deep division on the issue of whether Iraq was actively pursuing its nuclear program.

The Bush Administration's Public Statements on Iraq

Vice President Richard Cheney on Al-Qaeda:

"VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: Well, I want to be very careful about how I say this. I'm not here today to make a specific allegation that Iraq was somehow responsible for 9/11. I can't say that. On the other hand, . . . new information has come to light. And we spent time looking at that relationship between Iraq, on the one hand, and the al-Qaeda organization on the other. And there has been reporting that suggests that there have been a number of contacts over the years. . . . There is -- again, I want to separate out 9/11, from the other relationships between Iraq and the al-Qaeda organization. But there is a pattern of relationships going back many years. And in terms of exchanges and in terms of people, we've had recently since the operations in Afghanistan -- we've seen al-Qaeda members operating physically in Iraq and off the territory of Iraq. . . .
QUESTION: But no direct link?
VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: I can't -- I'll leave it right where it's at. I don't want to go beyond that. I've tried to be cautious and restrained in my comments."

Source: Meet the Press, NBC (9/8/2002).

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