WHAT THEY SAID BEFORE THE WAR

This is a repost from 12/15/2005 and I'm doing it because until I read David Corn's piece on Scottie, I had completely forgotten these statements.

“We do not have any direct evidence that Iraq has used the period since Desert Fox to reconstitute its WMD programs”
GEORGE TENET, 2/07/2001

"He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors"
COLIN POWELL, 2/24/2001

"The sanctions, as they are called, have succeeded over the last 10 years, not in deterring him [Saddam] from moving in that direction, but from actually being able to move in that direction. The Iraqi regime militarily remains fairly weak. It doesn't have the capacity it had 10 or 12 years ago. It has been contained...So containment, using this arms control sanctions regime, I think has been reasonably successful."
COLIN POWELL, 5/15/01

"Let's remember that [Saddam's] country is divided, in effect. He does not control the northern part of his country. We are able to keep his arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt."
CONDOLEEZA RICE, 7/29/01


"There is--in the past, there have been some activities related to terrorism by Saddam Hussein.But at this stage, you know, the focus is over here on al-Qaida and the most recent events in New York. Saddam Hussein's bottled up, at this point, but clearly, we continue to have a fairly tough policy where the Iraqis are concerned."
VICE PRES. CHENEY, 9/16/01