State of the Union AddressesBush, George W. (George Walker)
History
State of the Union Addresses
Bush, George W. (George Walker)
Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
U.S. intelligence indicates that Saddam Hussein had upwards of 30,000
munitions capable of delivering chemical agents. Inspectors recently
turned up 16 of them -- despite Iraq's recent declaration denying their
existence. Saddam Hussein has not accounted for the remaining 29,984 of
these prohibited munitions. He's given no evidence that he has
destroyed them.
From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had
several mobile biological weapons labs. These are designed to produce
germ warfare agents, and can be moved from place to a place to evade
inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not disclosed these facilities. He's
given no evidence that he has destroyed them.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in the 1990s that
Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, had
a design for a nuclear weapon and was working on five different methods
of enriching uranium for a bomb. The British government has learned
that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium
from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to
purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons
production. Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities.
He clearly has much to hide.
The dictator of Iraq is not disarming. To the contrary; he is
deceiving. From intelligence sources we know, for instance, that
thousands of Iraqi security personnel are at work hiding documents and
materials from the U.N. inspectors, sanitizing inspection sites and
monitoring the inspectors themselves. Iraqi officials accompany the
inspectors in order to intimidate witnesses.
Iraq is blocking U-2 surveillance flights requested by the United
Nations. Iraqi intelligence officers are posing as the scientists
inspectors are supposed to interview. Real scientists have been coached
by Iraqi officials on what to say. Intelligence sources indicate that
Saddam Hussein has ordered that scientists who cooperate with U.N.
inspectors in disarming Iraq will be killed, along with their families.
Year after year, Saddam Hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spent
enormous sums, taken great risks to build and keep weapons of mass
destruction. But why? The only possible explanation, the only possible
use he could have for those weapons, is to dominate, intimidate, or
attack.
With nuclear arms or a full arsenal of chemical and biological weapons,
Saddam Hussein could resume his ambitions of conquest in the Middle
East and create deadly havoc in that region. And this Congress and the
America people must recognize another threat. Evidence from
intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people
now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists,
including members of al Qaeda. Secretly, and without fingerprints, he
could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists, or help them
develop their own.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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