"...made public its assessment of two mysterious trailers found in Iraq, calling them mobile units to produce deadly germs and the strongest evidence yet that Saddam Hussein had been hiding a program to prepare for biological warfare. 
"We're highly confident" of that judgment, an American intelligence official told reporters. The official said the administration's strong conviction was based mainly on the similarity between the testimony of Iraqi sources and the evidence found on the ground..."

Bush

"...citing two trailers that U.S. intelligence agencies have said were probably used as mobile biological weapons labs, said U.S. forces in Iraq have "found the weapons of mass destruction" that were the United States' primary justification for going to war..."And we'll find more weapons as time goes on," Bush said. "But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong. We found them."..."

Cheney for Bush

"...We had intelligence reporting before the war that there were at least seven of these mobile labs that he had gone out and acquired. We’ve, since the war, found two of them. They’re in our possession today, mobile biological facilities that can be used to produce anthrax or smallpox or whatever else you wanted to use during the course of developing the capacity for an attack..."

Ben Fritz (Spinsanity):
"...President Bush's is now claiming that "we found the weapons of mass destruction. "This statement is flat out false according to the evidence presented by his own administration, however. So far, the U.S. has only found evidence of weapons labs that likely could have been used to create biological weapons, but has found no actual weapons banned by the United Nations...In remarks to Polish television released on Friday, though, President Bush stated that the U.S. has found much more than these labs. "We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories," he said, according to an Associated Press article. "''They're illegal. They're against the United Nations resolutions, and we've so far discovered two. And we'll find more weapons as time goes on. But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, we found them." 
However, as the Washington Post piece states, "U.S. authorities have to date made no claim of a confirmed finding of an actual nuclear, biological or chemical weapon." The existence of the labs is an important but separate issue. In the midst of a debate about whether the U.S. government misled the public and other governments over its reasons for invading Iraq, the President is now making a patently false claim about evidence of the existence of weapons of mass destruction..."

Peter Beaumont, Antony Barnett and Gaby Hinsliff (The Observer):
"...An official British investigation into two trailers found in northern Iraq has concluded they are not mobile germ warfare labs, as was claimed by Tony Blair and President George Bush, but were for the production of hydrogen to fill artillery balloons, as the Iraqis have continued to insist...
a British scientist and biological weapons expert, who has examined the trailers in Iraq, told The Observer last week: 'They are not mobile germ warfare laboratories. You could not use them for making biological weapons. They do not even look like them. They are exactly what the Iraqis said they were - facilities for the production of hydrogen gas to fill balloons.'
The conclusion of the investigation ordered by the British Government - and revealed by The Observer last week - is hugely embarrassing for Blair..."

Douglas Jehl (New York Times):
"...The State Department's intelligence division is disputing the Central Intelligence Agency's conclusion that mysterious trailers found in Iraq were for making biological weapons, United States government officials said today.
In a classified June 2 memorandum, the officials said, the department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research said it was premature to conclude that the trailers were evidence of an Iraqi biological weapons program, as President Bush has done...The reasons cited in the State Department memorandum to justify its dissent could not be learned. But in interviews earlier this month in Washington and the Middle East, American and British analysts with direct access to the evidence also disputed the C.I.A.'s claims, saying that the mobile units were more likely intended for other purposes and that the evaluation process had been damaged by a rush to judgment..."

Dana Milbank (Washington Post):
"..."The president had repeatedly said that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that includes everything knowable up to the opening shots of the war," he said. "We still have confidence in that information. You could say Iraq continues to have weapons of mass destruction. We have confidence we're going to find them. They're still there." 
Bush's remarks were significantly more circumscribed than his statement two weeks ago that "we found the weapons of mass destruction," based on the discovery of two trailers that the CIA has said could have been used to produce biological warfare agents. Although no actual pathogens had been recovered, Bush asserted then that "we'll find more weapons as time goes on."
A week later, Bush dropped the assertion that weapons had been found, saying instead that "we're on the look" for the weapons and that Hussein had "a big country in which to hide them."..."

Glen Rangwala (The Independent):
"...The ISG [Iraq Survey Group headed by David Kay] even casts serious doubt on President Bush's much-trumpeted claim that US forces had found three mobile biological laboratories after the war: "technical limitations" would prevent the trailers from being ideally suited to biological weapons production, it records. In other words, they were for something else..."

Joe Conason (New York Observer via Working for Change):
"...Wrong again, as Mr. Kay reluctantly noted. After scouring the two trailers for the past several months, his teams have been unable to "corroborate the existence of a mobile [biological-weapons] production effort." Indeed, what his scientists have learned is that technical limitations would almost certainly have made such difficult, dangerous processes impossible in those peculiar, canvas-sided vehicles..."

AP/MSNBC:
"...Top American scientists assigned to the weapons hunt in Iraq found no evidence Saddam Hussein’s regime was making or stockpiling smallpox, The Associated Press has learned from senior military officers involved in the search...
...a three-month search by “Team Pox” turned up only signs to the contrary: disabled equipment that had been rendered harmless by U.N. inspectors, Iraqi scientists deemed credible who gave no indication they had worked with smallpox and a laboratory thought to be back in use that was covered in cobwebs...
Bush administration officials often cited smallpox when describing Saddam’s intentions — and continue to do so despite the lack of evidence.
       On Sunday, Cheney said two trailers discovered in Iraq could have been used to make smallpox...
Despite those suspicions, Pentagon planners didn’t organize a specific search for smallpox when they put together a post-Saddam weapons hunt comprising hundreds of military personnel with expertise in missiles as well as chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
       “There was some discussion about creating specialized teams but we didn’t have enough people,” said Lt. Col. Michael Slifka, who planned the weapons hunt for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
       The original search teams, which disbanded when a Pentagon-led effort known as the Iraq Survey Group took over in August, comprised military officers trained in detecting chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Those teams didn’t have an investigative capability and didn’t include experts in specific areas such as smallpox.
       Surprised by the configuration, a handful of American biologists and virologists sent to Kuwait and then Baghdad with little instruction except to help, set up Team Pox on their own..."

Also see: Fred Kaplan (MSN/Slate)

(1 for lying compassion about the trailers and 1 for saying that others who point out the truth are liars compassionate.)

"...Iraq could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to a terrorist group or individual terrorists. Alliance with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints..."

Walter Pincus (Washington Post):
"...But declassified portions of a still-secret National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) released Friday by the White House show that at the time of the president's speech the U.S. intelligence community judged that possibility to be unlikely. In fact, the NIE, which began circulating Oct. 2, shows the intelligence services were much more worried that Hussein might give weapons to al Qaeda terrorists if he were facing death or capture and his government was collapsing after a military attack by the United States.
"Saddam, if sufficiently desperate, might decide that only an organization such as al Qaeda, . . . already engaged in a life-or-death struggle against the United States, could perpetrate the type of terrorist attack that he would hope to conduct," one key judgment of the estimate said.
It went on to say that Hussein might decide to take the "extreme step" of assisting al Qaeda in a terrorist attack against the United States if it "would be his last chance to exact vengeance by taking a large number of victims with him."...
Friday's declassified material from the NIE gave a much more complete picture of the intelligence in the form of all the key judgments of the intelligence community.
One of the judgments was that Hussein "appears to be drawing a line short of conducting terrorist attacks with conventional or [chemical or biological weapons] against the United States fearing that exposure of Iraqi involvement would provide Washington a stronger case for making war."
Another judgment was that Iraq would "probably" attempt a clandestine attack against the United States, as mentioned by Bush -- not on "any given day" as the president said Oct. 7, but only "if Baghdad feared an attack that threatened the survival of the regime were imminent or unavoidable." ..."

"...there is the allegation that a biologist had a "collection of reference strains" at his home, including "a vial of live C botulinum Okra B from which a biological agent can be produced"..."

Bush

"...The [Kay] report states that Saddam Hussein's regime had a clandestine network of biological laboratories, a live strain of deadly agent botulinum..."

Bush

"...said [that] the Iraq war was justified and cited the vial of bacteria as proof Kay found ample signs Saddam "was a danger to the world."..."

Powell for Bush

"Do you think vials of botulism should constitute a weapon of mass destruction?" Powell asked reporters. " ... They never lost that capability. They never lost that intent."

Boucher for Bush

"...US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher added: "You kill people with botuli. They have no other use."..."

Kay for Bush

"...Well, that's one of the most fascinating stories. An Iraqi scientist in 1993 hid in his own refrigerator reference strains for — active strains, actually would've — were still active when we found them — Botulinum toxin, one of the most toxic elements known..."

Kay for Bush

"...KAY: We're actively searching for at least one more cache of weapons — of strains that we know exists.
SNOW: This is a cache that had been referred to by a scientist. The first bit of information paid off; you're still looking for the second one?
KAY: Exactly..."

Walter Pincus (Washington Post):
"...Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," U.S. chief weapons inspector David Kay said he is searching for a cache of reference strains of biological agents that is supposed to include anthrax bacteria. Reference strains are not weapons agents but in effect sample amounts to be used to determine whether that agent exists. 
Kay's discovery of one vial of a reference strain of botulinum toxin that an Iraqi scientist had stored in his refrigerator in 1993 at his government's request was described by Bush on Friday as a piece of evidence that Iraq was prepared to have prohibited biological weapons.
Before the war, the administration, using 1998 data from U.N. inspectors, said that Iraq had not accounted for 25,000 liters of anthrax bacteria and 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin..."

Julian Borger (The Guardian):
"...the scientist involved said he was asked to hide the botulinum in his refrigerator at home in 1993. Iraq admitted pursuing a biological weapons programme to UN inspectors two years later. It is unclear whether the Iraqi scientist had received any orders from the regime after that date...
More evidence of such programmes was included in a 200-page classified version of the 13-page report made public, but experts in the ISG, including former UN inspectors, have so far not been allowed to read the classified version, according to one of their former colleagues.
The refusal to allow ISG experts to read a report on their own work adds weight to suspicions that the report has been manipulated. "They're under huge pressure to come up with whatever," the ex-colleague said..."

John J. Lumpkin (AP):
"...The Iraqi scientist who had the vial had been given it for safekeeping at his home by another, more senior scientist, in 1993, Kay said...
Although tests showed that the one vial of bacteria that the scientist kept was still viable, Kay offered no evidence it had been used in a weapons program during the last decade.
The vial contained a live bacteria that make botulinum toxin - a toxin that can be used as a biological weapon. But experts say there are many, complicated steps between possessing a vial of bacteria and producing enough of the toxin to create a weapon. That would require relatively sophisticated equipment and processing.
The bacteria itself is a common cause of food poisoning."

John J. Lumpkin (AP) via Salon:
"..."We have not found at this point actual weapons," [CG emphasis] Kay said after briefing lawmakers behind closed doors. "It does not mean we've concluded there are no actual weapons."..."

Bob Drogin (Los Angeles Times):
"...A suspicious sample of biological material recently found by U.S. weapons hunters in Iraq probably was purchased legally from a U.S. organization in the 1980s and is a substance that has never been successfully used to produce a weapon, experts said.
The discovery of the hidden vial of C. botulinum Okra B, which was revealed in an Oct. 2 interim report by chief U.S. weapons hunter David Kay, was highlighted in speeches by President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and other senior administration officials as proof that President Saddam Hussein's government maintained an illicit bio-weapons program before the war.
The significance of the vial is one of several elements of Kay's report that are being called into question by U.S. biowarfare experts and former United Nations weapons inspectors. Although most praised Kay for uncovering numerous cases in which Iraq hid suspicious equipment and activities from U.N. inspectors, they said the report appeared misleading in several areas...
The single vial of botulinum B had been stored in an Iraqi scientist's kitchen refrigerator since 1993. It appears to have been produced by a nonprofit Virginia biological resource center, the American Type Culture Collection, which legally exported botulinum and other biological material to Iraq under a Commerce Department license in the late 1980s.
The vial of botulinum B — about 2 inches high and half an inch wide — was the only suspicious biological material Kay reported finding. It was sealed and stored in the scientist's home with 96 other apparently benign vials of single-cell proteins and biopesticides...
But Dr. David Franz, a former chief U.N. biological weapons inspector who is considered among America's foremost experts on biowarfare agents, said there was no evidence that Iraq or anyone else has ever succeeded in using botulinum B for biowarfare.
"The Soviets dropped it [as a goal] and so did we, because we couldn't get it working as a weapon," said Franz, who is the former commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Ft. Detrick, Md., the Pentagon's lead laboratory for bioweapons defense research.
"From the weapons side, it's not something to be concerned about," agreed Dr. Raymond Zilinskas, another former U.N. inspector who is now director of the chemical and biological weapons nonproliferation program at the Monterey Institute in California..."

Also see: Bob Drogin (The New Republic); Billmon/Whiskey Bar

"...[Iraq had] New research on BW-applicable agents, Brucella and Congo Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), and continuing work on ricin and aflatoxin were not declared to the UN..."

"...[Iraq had] A clandestine network of laboratories and safehouses within the Iraqi Intelligence Service that contained equipment subject to UN monitoring and suitable for continuing CBW research..."

"...Numerous human sources tell us that the Iraqis are moving not just documents and hard drives, but weapons of mass destruction, to keep them from being found by inspectors. While we were here in this Council chamber debating Resolution 1441 last fall, we know, we know from sources that a missile brigade outside Baghdad was dispersing rocket launchers and warheads containing biological warfare agent to various locations, distributing them to various locations in western Iraq. Most of the launchers and warheads had been hidden in large groves of palm trees and were to be moved every one to four weeks to escape detection..."

"...Debriefings of IIS officials and site visits have begun to unravel a clandestine network of laboratories and facilities within the security service apparatus. This network was never declared to the U.N. and was previously unknown. We are still working on determining the extent to which this network was tied to large-scale military efforts or BW terror weapons, but this clandestine capability was suitable for preserving BW expertise, BW capable facilities and continuing R&D – all key elements for maintaining a capability for resuming BW production..."

"...The Iraqi regime has also developed ways to disperse lethal biological agents widely, indiscriminately into the water supply, into the air. For example, Iraq had a program to modify aerial fuel tanks for Mirage jets. This video of an Iraqi test flight obtained by UNSCOM some years ago shows an Iraqi F-1 Mirage jet aircraft. Note the spray coming from beneath the Mirage. That is 2,000 liters of simulated anthrax that a jet is spraying...
Iraq admitted to producing four spray tanks, but to this day, it has provided no credible evidence that they were destroyed, evidence that was required by the international community..."

"...A reporter at a Pentagon news conference asked: "In retrospect, were you a little too far-leaning in your statement that Iraq categorically had caches of weapons, of chemical and biological weapons, given what's been found to date? You painted a picture of extensive stocks" of Iraqi mass-killing weapons.

"Wait," Rumsfeld interjected. "You go back and give me something that talks about extensive stocks. The U.N. reported extensive stocks. That is where that came from. I said what I believed to be the case, and I don't - I'd be surprised if you found the word 'extensive."'..."

Compassiongate:
The U.N. did not report extensive stocks. As documented in the sections above, the U.N. said it could not account for some stocks but that it is a far cry to use that information to assert that such stocks were actually in Iraq.

have waxed eloquent about the threat of Saddam's WMDs and how his having WMDs is unacceptable 

Also see: The Memory Hole, Tony Paterson (The Independent)

"...In his March 6 news conference, Bush dismissed Iraq's destruction of its Al Samoud-2 missiles, saying they were being dismantled "even as [Hussein] has ordered the continued production of the very same type of missiles."..."

"..He [Saddam] denied he had these weapons, and then he destroys things he says he never had."...referring to Saddam Hussein's destruction of Al Samoud missiles..."

"...Iraq claims that flight-testing of a larger diameter missile falls within the 150km limit. This claim is not credible..."

White House

"...Iraq claims that its designs for a larger diameter missile fall within the UN-mandated 150km limit. But Dr. Blix has cited 13 recent Iraqi missile tests which exceed the 150km limit..."

On 27 January 2003, Blix reported:
"During my recent meeting in Baghdad, we were briefed on these two programmes. We were told that the final range for both systems would be less than the permitted maximum range of 150 km. These missiles might well represent prima facie cases of proscribed systems. The test ranges in excess of 150 km are significant, but some further technical considerations need to be made, before we reach a conclusion on this issue. In the mean time, we have asked Iraq to cease flight tests of both missiles."..."

"...Iraq possesses ballistic missiles with a likely range of hundreds of miles -- far enough to strike Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey and other nations -- in a region where more than 135,000 American civilians and service members live and work...."

Joseph Cirincione and Dipali Mukhopadyay (Foreign Policy) via Corrente::
"...In the 1980s Iraq had hundreds of Scud missiles with ranges from 300 to 600 kilometers (186 to 373 miles), firing over 500 in its war with Iran, and almost 100 in the 1991 Gulf War. The U.N. inspectors were able to confirm that all but two of the Scuds remaining after the war were destroyed. Under U.N. sanctions, Iraq was able to build short-range missiles with ranges of up to 150 kilometres (93 miles). In May [or March ?? - CG note] 2003, U.N. inspectors reported that they had found 97 missiles that had exceeded that range by some 30 kilometres (19 miles). These missiles could have struck neighboring countries such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey but could not have hit more distant nations such as Israel or Egypt. Inspectors had destroyed 72 of these missiles when the U.S. attacked Iraq. As yet, there is no evidence that Iraq had any missile capable of flying "hundreds of miles"...."

"...Iraq has programs that are intended to produce ballistic missiles that fly over 1,000 kilometers. One program is pursuing a liquid fuel missile that would be able to fly more than 1,200 kilometers. [...] Iraq has built an engine test stand that is larger than anything it has ever had...Since then, the test stand has been finished and a roof has been put over it so it will be harder for satellites to see what's going on underneath the test stand."..."

Alan Gilbert (Priority Peace):
"..."The experts also studied the data on the missile engine test stand that is nearing completion [...]. So far, the test stand has not been associated with a proscribed activity." 
Chief U.N. weapons inspector, Dr. Hans Blix Report to the U.N. Security Council 02-14-03

"But the U.N. missile experts have reported inspecting al-Rafah at least five times since inspections resumed Nov. 27, have studied the specifications of the new test stand, regularly monitor tests at the installation, and thus far have reported no concerns." Associated Press "Iraq: Sites Powell Noted Are Monitored" 02-07-03

"Al-Rafah and the Rasheed site were just two of numerous Iraqi installations said by Powell to pose threats, without his noting that U.N. teams have them under close watch." Associated Press 
"Iraq: Sites Powell Noted Are Monitored" 02-07-03..."

"...In February 2003, Tenet told Congress that ''Iraq retains . . . a small number of Scud missiles.''..."

Powell for Bush

"...numerous intelligence reports over the past decade from sources inside Iraq indicate that Saddam Hussein retains a covert force of up to a few dozen Scud-variant ballistic missiles. These are missiles with a range of 650 to 900 kilometers..."

Bryan Bender (Boston Globe):
"...Thielmann said that even the CIA director, George Tenet, exaggerated the facts. In February 2003, Tenet told Congress that ''Iraq retains . . . a small number of Scud missiles.'' But Thielmann said the supporting classified analysis said: ''We cannot confirm that all of those over 800 missiles that Iraq obtained have all been destroyed.''
''I would argue that's an important difference,'' he said..."

Also see: CBS News

"...Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] for missions targeting the United States..."

CBS News:
"...the U.S. claim that Iraq is developing missiles that could hit its neighbors – or U.S. troops in the region, or even Israel – is just one of the claims coming from Washington that inspectors here are finding increasingly unbelievable. The inspectors have become so frustrated trying to chase down unspecific or ambiguous U.S. leads that they've begun to express that anger privately in no uncertain terms...So frustrated have the inspectors become that one source has referred to the U.S. intelligence they've been getting as "garbage after garbage after garbage." In fact, Phillips says the source used another cruder word. The inspectors find themselves caught between the Iraqis, who are masters at the weapons-hiding shell game, and the United States, whose intelligence they've found to be circumstantial, outdated or just plain wrong..."

Claimed that the drones could fly greater distances than the limit imposed by the U.N.; Claimed that "...the information that the aircraft exists ''should be of concern to everyone'' and that Baghdad's failure to declare the drone suggests that ''Iraq has really not changed'' when it comes to declaring its weapons systems..."; Claimed that "...there was no question ''the munitions are capable of dispensing chemical and biological weapons.''..."

David Filipov (Boston Globe):
"...Duct tape reinforced by aluminum foil held together the black and white drone's balsa wood wings....Perched on a sawhorse at a military research base 20 miles north of Baghdad, the drone looked more like a large school science project than a vehicle capable of delivering chemical and biological weapons..."

News.com.au:
"...Powell told the UN Security Council that the Iraqis possessed a drone that could fly 500km, violating UN rules that limit the range of Iraqi weapons to 150km. "There is no possibility that the design shown on 12 March has the capability to fly anywhere near 500 kilometres," drones expert Ken Munson said on Jane's website (http://jdw.janes.com). "The design looks very primitive, and the engines -- which have their pistons exposed -- appear to be low-powered," he said...Jane's, a British weekly specialising on defence, is one of the most respected publications on such matters and its experts are considered to be authorities on the subject...."

Also see: BuzzFlash

"...Let me play another tape for you...Let me pause again and review the elements of this message...
"They are inspecting the ammunition you have, yes?"
"Yes. For the possibility there are forbidden ammo."
"For the possibility there is, by chance, forbidden ammo?"
"Yes."
"And we sent you a message yesterday to clean out all the areas, the scrap areas, the abandoned areas. Make sure there is nothing there. Remember the first message: evacuate it."...
This is all part of a system of hiding things and moving things out of the way and making sure they have left nothing behind..."

Charles Hanley (AP) via Common Dreams:
"...Powell played three audiotapes of men speaking in Arabic of a mysterious "modified vehicle," "forbidden ammo" and "the expression 'nerve agents' " - tapes said to be intercepts of Iraqi army officers discussing concealment.
Two of the brief, anonymous tapes, otherwise not authenticated, provided little context for judging their meaning. It couldn't be known whether the mystery vehicle, however modified, was even banned. A listener could only speculate over the cryptic mention of "nerve agents." [CG note: Glen Rangwala has noted that the comment on nerve agents, which was provided without context could easily have been a report that was being written]
The third tape, meanwhile, seemed natural, an order to inspect scrap areas for "forbidden ammo." The Iraqis had just told U.N. inspectors they would search ammunition dumps for stray, empty chemical warheads left over from years earlier. They later turned four over to inspectors.
Powell's rendition of the third conversation made it more incriminating, by saying an officer ordered that the area be "cleared out." The voice on the tape didn't say that, but only that the area be "inspected," according to the official U.S. translation...."

Also see: Gilbert Cranberg (Washington Post)

"...I asked for this [special U.N.] session today for two purposes: First, to support the core assessments made by Dr. Blix and Dr. ElBaradei...And as Dr. ElBaradei reported, Iraq’s declaration of December 7, ‘did not provide any new information relevant to certain questions that have been outstanding since 1998..."

"...Dr Blix pronounced the 12,000-page declaration rich in volume but poor in information and practically devoid of new evidence..."

"...This is all part of a system of hiding things and moving things out of the way and making sure they have left nothing behind...this is part and parcel of a policy of evasion and deception that goes back 12 years, a policy set at the highest levels of the Iraqi regime...Saddam Hussein has what is called "a Higher Committee for Monitoring the Inspection Teams". Think about that. Iraq has a high-level committee to monitor the inspectors who were sent in to monitor Iraq’s disarmament not to cooperate with them, not to assist them, but to spy on them and keep them from doing their jobs."..."

Making statements repeatedly to the effect that Saddam has WMDs because he hasn't provided sufficient evidence that he does not

Examples:

Fleischer for Bush

"...If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world..."

"...I would call my colleagues' attention to the fine paper that the United Kingdom distributed yesterday which describes in exquisite detail Iraqi deception activities..."

Walter Pincus and Dana Milbank 
(Washington Post, MSNBC):
"...But it later emerged that the British report's evidence was based in part on academic papers and trade publications..."

Also see: BuzzFlash

"...The Secretary of State began his February 5 presentation to the UN Security Council — supposedly the best-scrubbed version of the indictment against Saddam — with the promise that "every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we are giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence."..."

(when asked about Iraq's WMDs and not having found any so far) "..."Iraq had a weapons program," Bush said yesterday after a meeting of his Cabinet, the first time the body had met since the war started. "Intelligence throughout the decade showed they had a weapons program. I am absolutely convinced with time we'll find out that they did have a weapons program."..."

Bryan Keefer (Spinsanity):
"...Though White House Press Secretary Ari Flesicher has suggested that Bush uses "weapons" and "weapons programs" interchangeably, there is clearly a difference between evidence suggesting weapons were produced and actual weapons (link requires Salon Premium subscription or viewing of an advertisement). 
Just as importantly, however, is the way Bush is building the claim...[he] rhetorically implies that the discovery of the trailers is equivalent to finding weapons themselves, stating that we will find "more weapons" (emphasis mine) and repeating the word "weapons" three times after mentioning the labs. The final sentence, "But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them," is a classic example of a rhetorical fudge -- the "them" could refer to either the trailers or weapons themselves. By combining them in this way, Bush implies that weapons have actually been found, but he does so in such a way that he can claim he was only discussing manufacturing devices..."

Also see Jake Tapper (Salon.com)

"...''We won't be proven wrong,'' Bush told reporters last week. ''We will find the truth, and the truth is [Hussein] was developing a program for weapons of mass destruction.''..."

Compassiongate:
Clearly, it also represents a far less threat than even a developed program for making WMDs, let alone possessing the WMDs themselves.

Josh Marshall (Talking Points Memo):
"...This is the statement that jumped out at me from the president's press conference this morning. (And, for what it's worth, I was surprised and impressed that he held one just now.)
We gathered a lot of intelligence. That intelligence was good, sound intelligence on which I made a decision.
And in order to, you know, placate the critics and the cynics about intention of the United States we need to produce evidence. And I fully understand it, and I'm confident that our search will yield that which I strongly believe: that Saddam had a weapons program.
I want to remind you, he actually used his weapons program on his own people at one point in time, which was pretty tangible evidence.

You can see where this is going, can't you? This is really great-moments-in-goal-post-moving. 
Saddam had a weapons program. 
And how can you believe he didn't have a weapons program, when he actually used the weapons from his weapons programs, albeit fifteen years ago.
This isn't just a slip of the tongue or a Bushism. This is where we're going. As the White House now wants to define it, the question is whether Iraq ever had a weapons program. Or, to put it more precisely, whereas some people are foolish enough to believe that the standard is whether Saddam actually still had the weapons programs we know he once had, the real standard is whether Saddam actually once had the weapons programs we know he once had.
This is too silly to even talk about..."

(being very very compassionate here)

"...In order to placate the critics and cynics about intentions of the United States, we need to produce evidence..."

"..."We have to recognize that almost all first reports that we get turn out to be wrong," Rumsfeld said, adding that "literally dozens and dozens and dozens of instances where the first report comes in and -- perfectly good reporting -- but it's wrong. And therefore, we don't do that."..."

Also see: Sam Gardiner (US News and World Report via Common Dreams) for a systematic study of the use of premature information that was misleading or false as propaganda by Rumsfeld, Bush, etc.

(being extraordinarily compassionate here)

Bush:
"...[Saddam] spent decades hiding tools of mass murder. He knew the inspectors were looking for them. You know better than me he's got a big country in which to hide them. We're on the look. We'll reveal the truth...." 

Dafna Linzer (Newsday):
"...no U.S. weapons hunters or intelligence officials have visited the heart of Iraq's missile programs -- the state-owned al-Fatah company in Baghdad, which designed all the rockets Saddam Hussein's troops fired in 1991 and again this year. Not only that, it's not even on their agenda. 
"We have the most sensitive documents here," said Marouf al-Chalabi, director-general of al-Fatah. "We were sure the Americans would target us but they haven't even dropped by." 
Looters, however, have ransacked the place. The three-building complex has been stripped of everything from drafting tables to light switches. 
Among the few things left behind, though, are what U.N. inspectors long believed existed but never obtained: design plans and test results for every missile system and warhead the Iraqis developed. 
Plans for rocket engines, guidance systems and even missile warheads are strewn across the dusty office floors and swirl in the parking lot outside. Some have been blown into nearby bushes. "They're scattered everywhere," al-Chalabi said, marveling at the mess. 
American missile experts who have accompanied U.S. weapons teams in Iraq expressed astonishment this week when told that the design plans and engineers behind the Iraqi Scuds and other missile projects were available..."

Condi Rice

"...U.S. officials never expected that "we were going to open garages and find" weapons of mass destruction..."

Donald Rumsfeld

"...We never believed that we'd just tumble over weapons of mass destruction in that country..."

"...They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer..."

"..."It is also possible that they decided they would destroy them [WMDs] prior to a conflict," Mr. Rumsfeld said in response to question after a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in Manhattan today..."

Rice for Bush (6/8/03)

"...No one ever said that we knew precisely where all of these agents were, where they were stored..."

There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. And . . . as this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them. Gen. Tommy Franks
Press Conference
March 22, 2003

I have no doubt we're going to find big stores of weapons of mass destruction. Defense Policy Board member Kenneth Adelman
Washington Post, p. A27
March 23, 2003

One of our top objectives is to find and destroy the WMD. There are a number of sites. Pentagon Spokeswoman Victoria Clark
Press Briefing
March 22, 2003

We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat. Donald Rumsfeld
ABC Interview
March 30, 2003

But make no mistake -- as I said earlier -- we have high confidence that they have weapons of mass destruction. That is what this war was about and it is about. And we have high confidence it will be found. Ari Fleischer
Press Briefing
April 10, 2003..."

Council for a Livable World:
"...On February 5, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell told the United Nations Security Council: "We know from sources that a missile brigade outside Baghdad was disbursing rocket launchers and warheads containing biological warfare agents to various locations, distributing them to various locations in western Iraq. Most of the launchers and warheads have been hidden in large groves of palm trees and were to be moved every one to four weeks to escape detection."..."

Alan Elsner (Reuters):
"...[Rice's] statement represents a dramatic change from rhetoric from Bush and other top officials before the war, backed up by a steady stream of documents, all of which are still accessible on the White House web site. 
In his March 17 speech giving Iraqi President Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave the country, Bush said: "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." Earlier, in a speech last Oct. 7, Bush said: "The Iraqi regime ... possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons. "We know that the regime has produced thousands of tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, sarin nerve gas, VX nerve gas ... And surveillance photos reveal that the regime is rebuilding facilities that it had used to produce chemical and biological weapons." In his State of the Union address last January, Bush accused Iraq of having enough material "to produce over 25,000 liters of anthrax -- enough doses to kill several million people ... more than 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin -- enough to subject millions of people to death by respiratory failure ... as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent." 
In his dramatic presentation to the United Nations Security Council on Feb. 6, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States "knew" that Baghdad had dispersed rocket launchers and warheads containing biological warfare agents to locations in western Iraq. "We also have satellite photos that indicate that banned materials have recently been moved from a number of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction facilities," Powell said. "There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more." In Congressional testimony last month, Powell insisted that banned weapons "will be found." He said of his U.N speech that, "everything we had there had backup and double sourcing and triple sourcing."..."

(being ultra-
compassionate)

Wolfowitz for Bush (5/13/03)

"...We said all along that we will never get to the bottom of the Iraqi WMD program simply by going and searching specific sites, that you’d have to be able to get people who know about the programs to talk to you..."

"...There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. And . . . as this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them. Gen. Tommy Franks
Press Conference
March 22, 2003

I have no doubt we're going to find big stores of weapons of mass destruction. Defense Policy Board member Kenneth Adelman
Washington Post, p. A27
March 23, 2003

One of our top objectives is to find and destroy the WMD. There are a number of sites. 
Pentagon Spokeswoman Victoria Clark
Press Briefing
March 22, 2003

We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat. Donald Rumsfeld
ABC Interview
March 30, 2003

But make no mistake -- as I said earlier -- we have high confidence that they have weapons of mass destruction. That is what this war was about and it is about. And we have high confidence it will be found. Ari Fleischer
Press Briefing
April 10, 2003..."

Billmon:
"...I'm absolutely sure that there are weapons of mass destruction there and the evidence will be forthcoming. We're just getting it just now.
Colin Powell 
Remarks to Reporters 5/4/03

"...There are people who in large measure have information that we need . . . so that we can track down the weapons of mass destruction in that country..." Donald Rumsfeld 
Press Briefing 4/25/2003..."

"...No. I mean, how can you secure…sites in a country the size of California, that has open borders, porous borders…It’s not possible to secure every single site. What one has to do is to go in and win the war. Throw out the regime. And then, as rapidly as possible, shift that fighting force into a presence force and try to provide security in the country..."

"...We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat..."

Liberal Oasis:
"...What will probably be lost in the IntelliGate fallout was George Stephanopoulos’ notable exchange with Rumsfeld about the Phantom WMD.
First, Rummy belatedly walked back his earlier “we know where they are” statement from back in March:
I probably should have said “we know where they were,” instead of “we know where they are.”
Of course, this was done with the classic Rummy nonchalant, devilish grin, trying to make a blatant lie come across as an innocuous “oops!”..."

(for providing two different compassionate explanations)

"...What we had...is a long list of suspect sites. And they were sites that the inspectors had been in the process of looking at when they concluded that the inspection process really wasn't working, because of lack of cooperation on the part of Saddam Hussein's regime..."

"...You may find assembly lines, you may find pieces hidden here and there," she said. Ingredients or precursors, many non-lethal by themselves, could be embedded in dual-use facilities. She had a new explanation too for Iraq's ability to launch these weapons that were not assembled. "Just-in-time assembly" and "just-in-time" inventory, as she put it..."

"...“I am absolutely convinced that with time, we’ll find out they did have a weapons program.”..."

Fleischer for Bush

"...''I think there's an interesting lesson here on patience,'' Fleischer said. ''The president has it. He will continue to have it.''..."

Bush

"..."We are determined to discover the true extent of Saddam Hussein's weapons programs, no matter how long it takes..."

Rumsfeld for Bush

"...the WMD search in Iraq "is going to take time," the secretary observed, adding searchers probably aren't "going to stumble over" a cache of WMDs in Iraq..."

Wolfowitz for Bush

"...Well, look, I mean, we've stressed since 1441 was passed that the key to finding out what this program is, what they have, what they've destroyed, what they were working on, is getting people to talk to us. And that remains the key. And it will take time. I mean, it took time in 1991, if you recall. I think it was three months after the war that the IAEA was prepared to declare there was no nuclear program, and it was about 3-6 months later that they discovered that, in fact, they were pursuing not one, but I think four different routes to nuclear weapons, a couple of which we had completely missed. So it takes time to do this stuff..."

The New Republic:
"...Before the war, critics maintained that United Nations inspectors would need months to years to search for evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Yet less than two months after the war, these same critics rush to judgment, unwilling to give coalition forces time to find weapons that Saddam Hussein had years to hide." So explained Pentagon spokesperson Victoria Clarke in a letter to The New York Times this week.
We hate to be unsympathetic, but it's not the critics who have changed their stripes. It was the Bush administration that demanded speedy evidence of Iraq's failure to disarm from the U.N. team even though inspectors reported progress and wanted a few more months to complete their work. "This is a matter of weeks, not months," President Bush declared on January 31. "Any attempt to drag the process on for months will be resisted by the United States." It hardly seems hypocritical for administration critics to argue that it should be held to its own standard. After all, the Pentagon has a few advantages the U.N. inspectors did not--military control of Iraq, more than 100,000 troops in the country, and no evil dictator to obstruct the process, to name but a few. Still, Clarke pleads for time: "We have an extensive effort under way. Let's allow our team to finish the job before drawing conclusions." Somewhere, Hans Blix is laughing..."

James Pinkerton (Newsday):
"...David Kay's report on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, or lack thereof, was obviously a disappointment to President George W. Bush. But some weapons of mass destruction have already been found, here at home, and they have killed Americans. Yet the Bush administration is much less interested in the search for those weapons and the unknown evildoer who used them - and for future weapons of the same lethal sort.
Two years ago this month, even as America was still reeling from 9/11, the nation was further shaken by the letter-based anthrax attacks aimed at six different political and media targets. Those attacks - envelopes filled with bacterial spores - left five people dead and 17 sick..."

"..."The president had repeatedly said that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that includes everything knowable up to the opening shots of the war," he said. "We still have confidence in that information. You could say Iraq continues to have weapons of mass destruction. We have confidence we're going to find them. They're still there."..."

Compassiongate: Either one believes there is a possibility that Saddam destroyed the WMDs, or one is confident that Iraq "continues to have" WMDs. Both can't simultaneously be true.

"...How do you explain why Saddam Hussein, if he had no program, wouldn’t come clean and say, “I haven’t got a program. Come look”? Then he would have sanctions lifted. He’d earned $100 billion more in oil revenue over the last several years. He’d still be in power. The reason he didn’t was because obviously he couldn’t comply and wouldn’t comply with the U.N. resolutions demanding that he give up his WMD..."

George W. Bush (CNN):
"...Today, no nation can possibly claim that Iraq has disarmed. And it will not disarm so long as Saddam Hussein holds power..."

Nonviolence.org:
"...The Iraqi government, knowing that the United States favors Saddam Hussein’s ouster and will impose sanctions until a "regime change" occurs, has no incentive to cooperate with the United States or intrusive weapon’s inspections. Top US administration officials have said publicly for more than a decade that sanctions will remain intact until Saddam Hussein is out of office, even though this is not stipulated under the UN resolutions enforcing the sanctions..."

IPA:
"...May 20, 1991: President George Bush: "At this juncture, my view is we don't want to lift these sanctions as long as Saddam Hussein is in power." James Baker, Secretary of State: "We are not interested in seeing a relaxation of sanctions as long as Saddam Hussein is in power."...
[President] Clinton [1993]: "There is no difference between my policy and the policy of the present Administration.... I have no intention of normalizing relations with him."...
March 26, 1997: Albright, in her first major foreign policy address as Secretary of State: "We do not agree with the nations who argue that if Iraq complies with its obligations concerning weapons of mass destruction, sanctions should be lifted. Our view, which is unshakable, is that Iraq must prove its peaceful intentions. It can only do that by complying with all of the Security Council resolutions to which it is subjected. Is it possible to conceive of such a government under Saddam Hussein? When I was a professor, I taught that you have to consider all possibilities. As Secretary of State, I have to deal in the realm of reality and probability. And the evidence is overwhelming that Saddam Hussein's intentions will never be peaceful."...
November 14, 1997: President Clinton. [During a standoff on weapons inspectors] "What he [Hussein] says his objective is, is to relieve the people of Iraq, and presumably the government, of the burden of the sanctions. What he has just done is to ensure that the sanctions will be there until the end of time or as long as he lasts..."

"...What the president has said [about Iraq's WMDs]... has been the long-standing view of numerous people, not only in this country, not only in this administration, but around the world, including at the United Nations..."

Compassiongate: The issue is not whether everyone and their uncles and great grandmothers thought Saddam had biological and chemical weapons - it is whether:
(a) the Bush administration's "evidence" clearly showed evidence to support that picture, or not, and 
(b) the possession of the disputed weapons caused an immediate threat to the United States that justified a near-unilateral attack on Iraq. 

"...Our concern was that Iraq was keeping in place this capability, waiting for the day when they were free of sanctions and could go about putting all of their programs back in place. This particularly applies to the nuclear program. What I said in February when I spoke to the UN, was that they had the brainpower, they had the plans, and they were working on acquiring the capability, and whenever they were free of UN constraints or other constraints -- nobody was breathing down their neck -- there was no doubt in my mind Saddam Hussein still had the intention of developing such a capability..."

"..."After 11 years during which we have tried containment, sanctions, inspections, even selected military action, the end result is that Saddam Hussein still has chemical and biological weapons and is increasing his capabilities to make more," President Bush declared in a speech in Cincinnati last October. "And he is moving ever closer to developing a nuclear weapon."
"Clearly, to actually work, any new inspections, sanctions, or enforcement mechanisms will have to be very different," he added...."

Wolfowitz for Bush

"...just days before President Bush's State of the Union address in January, Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense, described the intelligence as not only convincing but up-to-date.
"It is a case grounded in current intelligence," he told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, "current intelligence that comes not only from sophisticated overhead satellites and our ability to intercept communications, but from brave people who told us the truth at the risk of their lives. We have that; it is very convincing."..."

Tenet for Bush

"...[said] "...When inspectors were pushed out in 1998, we did not sit back... The fact is we made significant professional progress." 
In his written statement, [Tenet] cited new evidence on biological and missile programs, but did not mention Hussein's nuclear pursuits..."

Rice for Bush

"...told "Fox News Sunday" that "there was an enrichment of the intelligence from 1998 over the period leading up to the war" and that Saddam Hussein had "very good programs in weapons of mass destruction...It was a gathering danger." Rice said the intelligence included new information about Iraq's procurement efforts and attempts to "reconstitute groups of scientists that had worked" for Hussein.
"Yes, I think I would call it new information, and it was certainly enriching the case in the same direction that this is somebody who had had weapons of mass destruction, had used them, and was continuing to pursue them," she said. "There were many, many dots about what was going on in the Iraqi programs after 1998."..."

Daily Howler:
"...Yesterday, President Bush took a question on WMD. We thought his reply was astounding:
QUESTION: On weapons of mass destruction; is it fair to say now after a few months of looking for them that there is a discrepancy between what the intelligence community and you and your top officials described as the threat from Saddam Hussein and what was actually there on the ground?
BUSH: Saddam Hussein had a weapons program. Remember he used them—he used chemical weapons on his own people. Saddam Hussein is no longer a threat to the United States because we removed him, but he was a threat. Such a threat that my predecessor, using the same intelligence in 1998, ordered a bombing of Iraq. I mean, so—he was a threat. He’s not a threat now. And the world is more peaceful by virtue of the fact that he is not in power..."

Dana Milbank and Mike Allen (Washington Post):
"...Bush told those gathered in the lush gardens outside the government's Union Building here that President Bill Clinton in 1998 "raided Iraq based upon the very same intelligence." Bush was referring to four days of bombing by the United States and Britain in December 1998 of Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons facilities as well as its missile-production plants. ..
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld sought to diminish the importance of the debate over the intelligence on Iraq's weapons programs. "The coalition did not act in Iraq because we had discovered dramatic new evidence of Iraq's pursuit" of weapons of mass destruction, he told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "We acted because we saw the evidence in a dramatic new light -- through the prism of our experience on 9-11." ..."

Dana Priest (Washington Post):
"...The leading Democrat on the House intelligence committee yesterday strongly disputed the assertion by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice that there was new information to support the claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction before the war and was a looming threat to the United States.  
"We don't see the support for that," said Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, whose staff has spent four months scrutinizing 19 volumes of intelligence underlying the intelligence community's prewar judgments about Iraq.
"As we moved to war, did the claims the policymakers made, were those claims supported by the intelligence?" Harman asked. "My conclusion is no."...
As we moved to war, did the claims the policymakers made, were those claims supported by the intelligence?" Harman asked. "My conclusion is no."
Last week, Harman and committee Chairman Porter Goss (R-Fla.) sent a letter to CIA Director George J. Tenet outlining their preliminary view of the material used to compile a classified National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq in October 2002. The 90-page NIE, parts of which were declassified at Congress's request, was the key document used by members of Congress and other policymakers to decide whether to go to war in Iraq.
In the letter, the two committee members criticized the intelligence community for using information that was outdated, circumstantial and fragmentary to come to the conclusion that Iraq possessed chemical and biological weapons and had links to al Qaeda.
Most of the information was collected before 1998, when U.N. weapons inspectors left Iraq because the United States had made it clear it was about to strike the country, the two members noted..."

Dana Priest (Washington Post):
"...Leaders of the House intelligence committee have criticized the U.S. intelligence community for using largely outdated, "circumstantial" and "fragmentary" information with "too many uncertainties" to conclude that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and ties to al Qaeda. 
Top members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which spent four months combing through 19 volumes of classified material used by the Bush administration to make its case for the war on Iraq, found "significant deficiencies" in the community's ability to collect fresh intelligence on Iraq, and said it had to rely on "past assessments" dating to when U.N. inspectors left Iraq in 1998 and on "some new 'piecemeal' intelligence," both of which "were not challenged as a routine matter."
"The absence of proof that chemical and biological weapons and their related development programs had been destroyed was considered proof that they continued to exist," the two committee members said in a letter Thursday to CIA Director George J. Tenet. The Washington Post obtained a copy this weekend...The committee, like all congressional panels, is controlled by Republicans, and its chairman, Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.), is a former CIA agent and a longtime supporter of Tenet and the intelligence agencies. Goss and the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Jane Harman (Calif.), signed the letter..."

"...Our understanding of the status of Iraq's WMD program was always bounded by large uncertainties and had to be heavily caveated..."

Dana Priest and Dana Milbank:
"...On Thursday, after briefing House and Senate intelligence committee members, Kay had said that the team had discovered no chemical or biological weapons and that the nuclear program was only rudimentary. "It had a long way to go," he said.
Yesterday, Kay estimated it would have taken Iraq five to seven years to reconstitute its nuclear program.
In his March 17 ultimatum to Hussein, Bush said: "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."
In May, after inspectors found two trailers that could have been used to produce biological weapons, Bush said: "We found the weapons of mass destruction."..."

Powell at the U.N. before the invasion:
"...There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more. And he has the ability to dispense these lethal poisons and diseases in ways that can cause massive death and destruction..."
"...Saddam Hussein has chemical weapons..."

"...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..."

Bush

"...[Iraq] possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons..."

Fleischer for Bush:
"...the president of the United States and the secretary of defense would not assert as plainly and bluntly as they have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction if it was not true, and if they did not have a solid basis for saying it..."

Dana Milbank (Washington Post):
"...President Bush and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell defended yesterday a statement made by Powell early in 2001 that Iraq's Saddam Hussein did not have "any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction." [CG emphasis]
Bush and Powell were asked about the remark, made on Feb. 24, 2001, after it was discovered on the State Department's Web site. Bush, asked about how Hussein went from that status in February to becoming what he called a "great and gathering danger" a year and a half later, said his perspective was changed by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"Nine-eleven changed my calculation," the president said after a meeting with lawmakers at the White House. "It made it really clear we have to deal with threats before they come on our shore..."...
Powell offered a different explanation yesterday, saying that more information was obtained later. "What I said was, at that time, three weeks into the administration, when I was trying to get sanctions retained -- and we did succeed in getting sanctions retained -- I made that observation," he said. "You'll note that I did not say that he didn't have weapons of mass destruction. . . . He was a threat then. The extent of his holdings were yet to be determined. It was early in the administration and, fact of the matter, it was long before 9/11."
National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, interviewed yesterday on ABC's "Good Morning America," provided a similar explanation. She said "the story unfolded" after Powell's remark, noting that "we began to get important reporting, for instance, on the fact that, in 1998, Saddam Hussein was diverting maybe $500 million in illegal funds from oil revenue by the period of 2002, not -- $3 billion in illegal revenue."
Powell's 2001 remark was similar to one made by Vice President Cheney on Sept. 16, 2001. Cheney asserted that Hussein was contained. "Saddam Hussein's bottled up, at this point, but clearly, we continue to have a fairly tough policy where the Iraqis are concerned," he said..."

"...A lot changed between February 2001 (and the invasion), but I don't find anything inconsistent between what I said then and what I've said all along..."

If Iraq had disarmed itself, gotten rid of its weapons of mass destruction over the past 12 years, or over the last several months since (UN Resolution) 1441 was enacted, we would not be facing the crisis that we now have before us. 
Colin Powell Interview with Radio France International February 28, 2003..."

MaxSpeak has more quotes, especially from Powell.

Sydney Morning Herald:
"...A television report by Pilger aired on British screens last night said US Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice confirmed in early 2001 that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had been disarmed and was no threat...
Pilger uncovered video footage of Powell in Cairo on February 24, 2001 saying, "He (Saddam Hussein) has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours."
Two months later, Rice reportedly said, "We are able to keep his arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt." ..."

"...In his U.N. address last February, Powell highlighted two other points about Iraq's UAV program to suggest the drones could be used to spread chemical or biological agents. One was an extensive Iraqi effort to develop "spray devices that could be adapted for UAVs." The other involved evidence that Iraq had tried flying UAVs substantial distances, including one test that went for 310 miles..."

Bush

"...We’ve also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas. We’re concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVs for missions targeting the United States..."

[CG: There's more...]

"...But with the debate now out in the open, Boyd, who is the director of intelligence analysis for the Air Force, has been quite willing to talk...
Boyd said the spray devices were weighty tanks that were intended for fighter jets and were too heavy for Iraq's UAV fleet. As for the longer-range test flights, he said they did not mean the drones could carry any bigger payload.
U.S. teams scouring Iraq in recent months for evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction have unearthed UAVs -- or pieces of them -- in several locations, including a "parking lot" in southwest Baghdad that Boyd described as part of Iraq's "main UAV development center." He said U.S. officials have determined that before the war, Iraq had an inventory of about 75 UAVs, roughly half of them Musayara-20s.
"Everything we discovered strengthened our conviction that the UAVs were to be used for reconnaissance," Boyd said. Interviews with a number of Iraqis who had been involved in the UAV program have supported this view, he added..."

Bush

"...The [Kay] report states that Saddam Hussein's regime had...advanced design work on prohibited longer-range missiles..."

Cheney for Bush

"...Plans and advanced design work for new long-range ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges capable of striking targets throughout the Middle East, which were prohibited by the U.N. and which Saddam sought to conceal from U.N. weapons inspectors..."

Cheney for Bush

"...each and every one of these findings [by Kay's team] confirms a material breach by the former Iraqi regime of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441..."

"...But some of the items Cheney cited from Kay's report as violations remain unconfirmed. The prison laboratory story was first explored in 1998 by U.N. inspectors. Kay said U.S. inspectors still did not have enough evidence or witnesses "that would indicate that in fact that's what they [the prison facilities] were used for." 
Similarly, a former U.N. inspector said that in the past, investigators in Iraq were continually discovering technical equipment that had not been declared or tagged "because almost any lab equipment is dual purpose." And experts say the drones Cheney cited probably could not travel far enough to violate U.N. requirements and were not designed to carry weapons..."

"...We've got a very good man now in charge of the operation, David Kay, who used to run UNSCOM..."

"...we know that the main weapon of mass destruction was Saddam Hussein and his regime and that has been stopped..."

Julian Borger (The Guardian):
"...Mr Wolfowitz said there were several motives for the invasion, including weapons of mass destruction, Iraq's alleged links with al-Qaida and the oppression of the Iraqi people. "The truth is that for reasons that have a lot to do with the US government bureaucracy, we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on - which was weapons of mass destruction - as the core reason," he said. Mr Wolfowitz said that the "criminal treatment" of the "Iraqi people is a reason to help the Iraqis, but it's not a reason to put American kids' lives at risk, certainly not on the scale we did" [CG emphasis]..."

Bolton for Bush

"...Whether or not Hussein had weapons was not central to the U.S. decision to invade Iraq, Bolton said. "The issue I think has been the capability that Iraq sought to have . . . WMD programs," he told the Associated Press. "Whether he possessed them today or four years ago isn't really the issue. Until that regime was removed from power, that threat remained. That was the purpose of military action." ..."

Wolfowitz for Bush

"...I'm not concerned about weapons of mass destruction..."
July 21, 2003

Billmon/Whiskey Bar:
"...Disarming Iraq of its chemical and biological weapons and dismantling its nuclear weapons program is a crucial part of winning the War on Terror. 
Paul Wolfowitz Speech to the Council on Foreign Relations January 23, 2003

Compassiongate: A whole slew of such quotes is available from Billmon here.

(being very very compassionate here)