President Bush's Speech on Iraq

What he said	Why it's a lie
My fellow citizens, events in Iraq have now reached the final days of decision. For more than a decade, the United States and other nations have pursued a patient and honorable effort to disarm the Iraqi regime without war.	1. An effort that has caused the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians from preventable disease and starvation and has been systematically designed to cripple the Iraqi economy cannot be called honorable.
That regime pledged to reveal and destroy all of its weapons of mass destruction as a condition for ending the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Since then, the world has engaged in 12 years of diplomacy. We have passed more than a dozen resolutions in the United Nations Security Council. We have sent hundreds of weapons inspectors to oversee the disarmament of Iraq. Our good faith has not been returned.	2. Since we have obviously been planning an attack on Iraq for many years regardless of Iraq's attempts to obey the UN resolutions, we cannot claim to have had good faith.
The Iraqi regime has used diplomacy as a ploy to gain time and advantage. It has uniformly defied Security Council resolutions demanding full disarmament.	3. Iraq has admitted inspectors and destroyed weapons. This is hardly uniform defiance.
Over the years, UN weapons inspectors have been threatened by Iraqi officials, electronically bugged and systematically deceived.	4. Iraq suspected, with good reason, that some weapons inspections were covers for US espionage operations. The US has also threatened weapons inspectors when they did not support our unfounded allegations, and, we, too, have been guilty of electronic bugging. The President is engaging in systematic deception in this very speech in a far more damaging fashion than Saddam Hussein ever did.
Peaceful efforts to disarm the Iraq regime have failed again and again because we are not dealing with peaceful men.	5. Efforts uniformly backed by threats of war cannot be called peaceful.
Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.	6. Iraqi chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction were given or sold to him by their ally of that time, the US, which did not disapprove their use of these weapons on Iranians and on Iraqi Kurds. Saddam Hussein has allowed inspectors carte blanche to search for more, and more have not been found. Iraqi atomic potential was destroyed by an Israeli bombing raid in 1981, and it is doubtful that Saddam Hussein has even one atomic bomb to match our thousands.
This regime has already used weapons of mass destruction against Iraq's neighbors and against Iraq's people. The regime has a history of reckless agression in the Middle East. It has a deep hatred of America and its friends and it has aided, trained, and harbored terrorists, including operatives of Al Qaeda.	7. The Baath Party government in Iraq is secular, not particularly religious and certainly not fundamentalist. Al Qaeda has said many times that Saddam Hussein should be deposed. Al Qaeda has made contact with some groups of dissident Kurds, but the evidence of co-operation between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda is considered ridiculous by most intelligence groups, including most US intelligence agencies.
The danger is clear: using chemical, biological, or, one day, nuclear weapons obtained with the help of Iraq, the terrorists could fulfill their stated ambitions and kill thousands or hundreds of thousands of innocent people in our country or any other.	8. No one has connected Iraq with any terrorist effort against the US. Iraq has backed violent Palestinian groups but has never offered them weapons of mass destruction.
The United States and other nations did nothing to invite this threat,	9. The 1991 Gulf War, the 1993 bombing of Baghdad because of the alleged attempt to assassinate George H. W. Bush, which George W. Bush has used as a justification for the currently planned attack, and all the rhetoric of the current administration might be seen as actions that invite a threat.
but we will do everything to deafeat it. Instead of drifting toward tragedy, we will set a course toward safety.	10. Making war has never increased anyone's safety.
Before the day of war can come, before it is too late to act, this danger will be removed.	11. Getting the paranoids before they get you has never been considered, except by fascist dictators, a sufficient justification for an attack or even a rational act.
The United States of America has the sovereign authority to use force in assuring its own national security.	12. In the absence of an actual attack, the US has no such authority.
That duty falls to me as commander in chief by the oath I have sworn, by the oath I will keep.	13. The oath to which the President refers is to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." That document gives Congress the exclusive power to declare war, which it has not done. It also obliges the President to consider all treaties made by the United States as equal in authority to the Constitution itself, which includes the UN charter of which the proposed attack is in clear violation. Preparations for this war have already violated the 1st, 5th, 6th, and 8th amendments to the Constituion, and it seems likely that the President will violate his oath even more in the future.
Recognizing the threat to our country, the United States Congress voted overwhelmingly last year to support the use of force against Iraq.	14. This authority was given on inadequate information and some outright lies. Many representatives and senators who gave it have since changed their minds. In any case, Congress cannot constitutionally delegate its power to make war to the commander in chief, who can act independently only in the case of actual invasion.
America tried to work with the United Nations to address this threat because we wanted to resolve the issue peacefully. We believe in the mission of the United Nations.	15. The President obviously does not believe in the UN or he would not be defying it after his failed effort to coerce it.
One reason the UN was founded after the Second World War was to confront agressive dictators actively and early, before they can attack the innocent and destroy the peace. In the case of Iraq, the Security Council did act in the early 1990s. Under resolutions 678 and 687, both still in effect, the United States and our allies are authorized to use force in ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.	16. These resolutions do not authorize the US and its allies to act without UN authority, which they do not have.
This is not a case of authority, it is a question of will.	17. The assertion of the President's will without the authority of either the US Constitution or the UN Charter is clearly illegal.
Last September I went to the UN General Assembly and urged the nations of the world to unite and bring an end to this danger. On November 8th, the Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1441, finding Iraq in material breach of its obligations and vowing serious consequences if Iraq did not fully and immediately disarm.	18. This resolution, like the previous resolutions, required the approval of the Security Council before an invasion could be authorized.
Today, no nation can possibly claim that Iraq has disarmed. And it will not disarm so long as Saddam Hussein holds power.	19. Saddam Hussein has revealed and destroyed weapons at the direction of UN inspectors. His forces are less than half what they were when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, and no neighboring country now fears an Iraqi invasion. He has a legitimate argument when he says that Israel's Ariel Sharon has also been in material breach of UN resolutions without being threatened by invasion. There is no evidence that any legitimate Iraqi government succeeding Saddam Hussein is likely to act differently.
For the last four and a half months, the United States and our allies have worked within the Security Council to enforce that council's longstanding demands.	20. Coercion, illegal spying, and bribes hardly contitute "working within."
Yet some permanent members of the Security Council have publicly announced that they will veto any resolution that compels the disarmament of Iraq. These governments share our assessment of the danger, but not our resolve to meet it.	21. The US repeatedly failed to get the endorsement of a majority of Security Council members before the veto was threatened and does not command such a majority now.
Many nations, however, do have the fortitude to act against this threat to peace, and a broad coalition is now gathering to support the just demands of the world.	22. Submitting to the threats of a bully seeking planetary hegemony or accepting bribes does not constitute fortitude.
The United Nations Security Council has not lived up to its respnsibilities,	23. But it has. It has not failed like the US Congress or the President's advisors or the media.
so we will rise to ours. In recent days, some governments in the Middle East have been doing their part. They have delivered public and private messages urging the dictator to leave Iraq so that disarmament can proceed peacefully. He has thus far refused.	24. As the head of a sovereign state, he considers it his right to refuse. By pursuing the course of action that he has pursued over the past few years, this murderous bully has performed the difficult feat of making himself less unpopular in most of the world than George W. Bush.
All the decades of deceit and cruelty have now reached an end.	25. Students of human history rather doubt this.
Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict commenced at a time of our choosing. For their own safety, all foreign nationals, including journalists and inspectors, should leave Iraq immediately.	26. The President's authority is not sufficient to force out my comrades whom I met while working for peace and justice last October and November in Iraq: Kathy Kelly of Voices in the Wilderness and Peggy Gish and Cliff Kindy of Christian Peacemaker Teams and dozens of US citizens of like mind now in Iraq.
Many Iraqis can hear me tonight in a translated radio broadcast, and I have a message for them: If we must begin a campaign, it will be directed against the lawless men who rule your country and not against you.	27. It is obvious that thousands of innocent civilians are going to be killed and very few of Iraq's rulers.
As our coalition takes away their power, we will deliver the food and medicine you need.	28. Since the only adequate supplies of staple food are firmly in the hands of the Iraqi government and with the disruption of distribution networks that must necessarily occur, this promise is a lie.
We will tear down the apparatus of terror and we will help you build a new Iraq that is prosperous and free. In free Iraq there will be no more wars of agression against your neighbors, no more poison factories, no more executions of dissidents, no more torture chambers and rape rooms.	29. The nearby countries of Iran, Kuwait, Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf States will continue to have these things, and any Iraqi government approved by such neighbors will have them, too.
The tyrant will soon be gone. The day of your liberation is near.	30. Liberation is not near for the people of Iraq, for the new tyrant will be more difficult to displace than the old.
It is too late for Saddam Hussein to remain in power. It is not too late for the Iraq military to act with honor and protect your country, by permitting peaceful entry of coalition forces to eliminate weapons of mass destruction. Our forces will give Iraqi military units clear instructions on actions they can take to avoid being attacked and destroyed.	31. On the basis of the experience of those who rose up against the regime in 1991 and then were betrayed by George H. W. Bush and massacred by Saddam Hussein, this is not believable.
I urge every member of the Iraqi military and intelligence services: If war comes, do not fight for a dying regime that is not worth your own life. And all Iraqi military and civilian personnel should listen carefully to this warning: In any conflict your fate will depend on your actions. Do not destroy oil wells, a source of wealth that belongs to the Iraqi people.	32. This lie at last reveals what this conflict is really about. If the invasion is successful, the oil of Iraq will belong to ExxonMobil, Chevron Texaco, BP-Amoco, and Shell. The contracts for restoring and re-equipping the fields will go to firms like Halliburton, whose former CEO is Vice-President Cheney. This dying regime is not worth anyone's life either.
Do not obey any command to use weapons of mass destruction against anyone, including the Iraqi people. War crimes will be prosecuted, war criminals will be punished and it will be no defense to say "I was just following orders."	33. George W. Bush will be the chief war criminal in this instance, and it will probably be sufficient for him to say that he was following the orders of a handful of global corporations.
Should Saddam Hussein choose confrontation, the American people can know that every measure has been taken to avoid war and every measure will be taken to win it.	34. The measure of listening to the clearly expressed will of the majority of the world's people who do not want this war has obviously not been taken.
Americans understand the costs of conflicts because we have paid them in the past.	35. We did not pay the price that the Germans or the Russians or the French paid in the wars of the 20th century, perhaps one reason why these countries now oppose our adventurism.
War has no certainty except the certainty of sacrifice. Yet the only way to reduce the harm and duration of a war is to apply the full force of our military, and we are prepared to do so.	36. This is not nearly so effective as refusing to fight a war with so many possibilities of disaster and so few clear benefits.
If Saddam Hussein clings to power, he will remain a deadly foe to the end.	37. It is not wise to anticipate the actions of a foe who has outsmarted Bush in every confrontation so far.
In desperation, he and terrorist groups might try to conduct terrorist operations against the American people and our friends. These attacks are not inevitable.	38. Attacks from people who have been repeatedly threatened and who have nothing to lose are inevitable. Ask Ariel Sharon, who must know by now that he is deliberately provoking such attacks.
They are, however, possible. And this fact underscores the reason we cannot live under the threat of blackmail. The terrorist threat to America and the world will be diminished the moment that Saddam Hussein is disarmed.	39. It is far more likely to be increased, as Bush's intelligence advisors have said.
Our government has heightened its watch against such dangers. Just as we are preparing for victory in Iraq, we are taking further actions to protect our homeland. In recent days, American authorities have expelled from the country certain individuals with ties to Iraqi intelligence services. Among other measures, I have directed additional security at our airports and increased Coast Guard patrols of major seaports. The Department of Homeland Security is working closely with the nation's governors to increase armed security at critical facilities across America.	40. This is not likely to do any good, for a clever and suicidal terrorist group can easily outwit a heavy-handed bureaucracy.
Should enemies srike our country, they would be attempting to shift our attention with panic and weaken our morale with fear. In this, they would fail.	41. If the above were true, the President would not have been able to use this absurd war to shift the attention of the people from increasing disparities of wealth in this country, the increasing subservience of politicians to large corporations, and the miserable dysfunction of the economy.
No act of theirs can alter the course or shake the resolve of this country. We are a peaceful people,	42. Any student of US history knows that this is absurd.
yet we are not a fragile people. And we will not be intimidated by thugs and killers.	43. If that were true, the President would not be able to intimidate anyone.
We are now acting because the risks of inaction would be far greater. In one year, or five years, the power of Iraq to inflict harm on all free nations would be multipled many times over.	44. The declining strength of the Iraqi military since 1991 indicates that this prediction is a conscious lie.
With these capabilities, Saddam Hussein and his terrorist allies could chose the moment of deadly conflict when they are strongest. We choose to meet that threat now where it arises, before it can appear suddenly in our skies and cities.	45. But is absurd to think of this as a really dangerous threat when North Korea, Pakistan, etc., are not so regarded.
The cause of peace requires all free nations to recognize new and undeniable realities. In the 20th century, some chose to appease murderous dictators whose threats were allowed to grow into genocide and global war.	46. Those who did so generally had economic and political notions similar to those of the President.
In this century, when evil men plot chemical, biological and nuclear terror, a policy of appeasement could bring destruction of a kind never before seen on this earth. Terrorists and terrorist states do not reveal these threats with fair notice in a formal declaration.	47. Then the only logical thing to do is to reduce paranoia by destroying the largest existing stocks of weapons of mass destruction, which belong to the US.
And responding to such enemies only after they have struck first is not self defense. It is suicide. The security of the world requires disarming Saddam Hussein now.	48. It does not follow that war is preferable to a continued regimen of inspections.
As we enforce the just demands of the world, we will also honor the deepest commitments of this country.	49. The anticipated war does exactly the opposite.
Unlike Saddam Hussein, we believe the Iraqi people are deserving and capable of human libertry, and when the dictator has departed, they can set an example to all the Middle East of a vital and peaceful and self-governing nation.	50. No one who knows the geography, history, and present day politics of Iraq's neighbors can believe that.
The United States with other countries will work to advance liberty and peace in that region.	51. It is impossible for the US to do this as long as it seeks to control all the world's fossil fuels, which is obviously its chief interest.
Our goal will not be achieved overnight, but it can come over time. The power and appeal of human liberty is felt in every life and every land, and the greatest power of freedom is to overcome hatred and violence, and turn the creative gifts of men and women to the pursuits of peace. That is the future we choose.	52. We cannot achieve this future as long as we follow the President's notion that war leads to peace. It only leads to more war.
Free nations have a duty to defend our people by uniting against the violent, and tonight, as we have done before, America and our allies accept that responsibility.	53. If we truly accepted that responsibility, we would start, not by invading Iraq, but by preparing to replace the President and the greedy and murderous interests he represents.
Good night, and may God continue to bless America.	54. The Pope, the Dalai Lama, and the majority of my sincerely Christian, Jewish, and Muslim friends have a somewhat different notion as to what God blesses and does not bless.