I don't know why I ever watch Meet the Press. Condoleeza Rice appeared with Punkinhead this morning, and, well....
The primary reason for going to war against Iraq was that Saddam Hussein was a threat.And in exactly what ways, Dr. Rice, was he a threat?
He was a--he represented a regime against which we had gone to war in 1991, which we had gone to war again in 1998 because we were concerned about his having thrown out weapons inspectors and that he was continuing his weapons-of-mass-destruction programs. He was an avowed enemy of the United States who had attacked his neighbors, who had used weapons of mass destruction. He was tying down our forces in Saudi Arabia. He was a threat to change in the Middle East, which is at the core of how we change the security environment in which terrorism is taking place.Wow. Saddam was a threat.... to change in the Middle East. In other words, if there is any context in which you can truthfully use the phrase "is a threat" in a sentence to describe someone, that's cause for war. This is called lowering the bar.
Because Saddam Hussein had been a threat for 12 years, ever since he invaded Kuwait and set the Middle East on a course of instability.Those were the days. How fondly I remember the peace in the Middle East that came to an end when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1991.
Somebody had to take care of Saddam Hussein and set the Middle East on a different course.No one will deny that you've done the first part (unless his trial goes Milosevic). As for the latter, the game's not over, but you're not exactly winning.
MR. RUSSERT: But there's no linkage between September 11 and Iraq?The sad part is that I was actually happy to hear that grain of truth.
DR. RICE: There is no linkage between the plot of September 11 and Saddam Hussein's regime that we see.
But I think it would be wrong to say that there is no linkage between what happened to us on September 11 and the instability and lack of hope and lack of freedom in the Middle East. And Saddam Hussein's regime was one of the prime elements in that kind of Middle East.Instability, lack of hope, and lack of freedom certainly characterize the countries where the 9/11 hijackers originated. What exactly has your administration done to alleviate those conditions in THOSE countries?
Three years ago, Pakistan was not a fighter in the war on terrorism.Three years ago, on August 8, 2001, I'm not sure exactly which countries were fighters in the war on terrorism. We common folk never heard of any such war until two months later.