WASHINGTON, 4 October 2003 — US President George W. Bush came out swinging yesterday against Iraq war critics, saying a top expert has found proof Saddam Hussein was “a danger to the world” even though banned weapons remain elusive.
“This administration will deal with gathering dangers where we find them,” he vowed, dismissing a poll that shows mounting doubts among Americans about whether the war in Iraq and subsequent occupation were worth the price. The president counterattacked after David Kay, the leader of a US-led search for the chemical and biological weapons at the core of the US case for war, said in an interim report to Congress that he found no such arms.
Bush and top aides had insisted before the US-led invasion in March that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction and risked arming terrorists like those who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 strikes.
“We gave him ample time to deal with his weapons of mass destruction and he refused. So he’s no longer in power and the world is better off for it,” he said in an impromptu remarks on the White House South Lawn.
But Kay said his Iraq Survey Group found no weapons of mass destruction (WMD), could not say whether any existed before the US-led invasion in March, or whether they still existed in hidden caches. Bush focused on Kay’s findings of dozens of WMD-related “activities” and equipment hoards concealed from UN weapons inspectors, as well as evidence Iraq was developing an advanced missile in violation of UN restrictions.
“The report states that Saddam Hussein’s regime had a clandestine network of biological laboratories, a live strain of deadly agent botulinum, sophisticated concealment efforts and advanced design work on prohibited longer-range missiles,” he said.
“This interim progress report is not final. Extensive work remains to be done on his biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programs,” said the president, whose 2004 reelection bid could suffer from the war in Iraq.
“But these findings already make clear that Saddam Hussein actively deceived the international community, that Saddam Hussein was in clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 and that Saddam Hussein was a danger to the world,” he added. The failure to find the weapons that Bush and top officials insisted Saddam possessed, as well as a mounting death toll among US troops in Iraq, appeared to be fueling rising discontent among Americans about the occupation.
A CBS News New York Times poll out late Thursday found that 53 percent believe the war was not worth the cost, while just 41 percent believe it was, down from 43 percent two weeks ago and 46 percent in August.
“I don’t make decisions based upon polls. I make decisions based upon what I think is important to the security of the American people,” the president said testily.
However, Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday leapt to the defense of the war against Iraq, insisting that the new report on Saddam’s weapons program justified the conflict. Powell said the report gave clear evidence that Saddam had been hiding illicit arms and chemical and biological programs from the United Nations.
Meanwhile, leading opponents of the Iraq war yesterday poured cold water on a new US draft resolution to rebuild the country.
UN chief Kofi Annan stressed to the 15-member Security Council that he could not accept the terms of the US draft resolution, which did not incorporate his suggestions on how to handle the eventual transfer of political power in Iraq. France said the resolution takes almost no account of its concerns. Russian President Vladimir Putin said, “We are not satisfied with the draft by our American partners.”
