"Never chase a lie. Let it alone, and it will run itself to death."
Andrew | 03.12.2003 01:43
I almost feel sorry sometimes for our leaders, in frantically spinning a web of deceit they almost always end up tangled and trapped by their own lies. Here are a few interesting examples I've collected. Words are the most powerful weapons that can be used against their owners.
“In the combination of these afflictions, a new and deadly virus has emerged. The virus is terrorism”
- Prime Minister Tony Blair, 17th July 2003
"The assessment I received [from British Intelligence] was that the greatest terrorist threat to Western interests came from al-Qaeda and related groups, and that this threat would be heightened by military action against Iraq"
- Prime Minister Tony Blair, in a written reply to Parliament, 15th October 2003
"It is our view that an invasion of Iraq would ensure overflowing recruitment centres for terrorists into the indefinite future. Far from eliminating the threat it would enhance it exponentially,"
- A statement by CIA veterans, February 2003
"The world is safer today because, in Iraq, our coalition ended a regime that cultivated ties to terror while it built weapons of mass destruction"
- President George W. Bush, September 2003
"War in Iraq has probably inflamed radical passions among Muslims and thus increased al-Qaeda's recruiting power and morale and, at least marginally, its operational capability"
- International Institute for Strategic Studies, Annual Report 2003-2004
"Should Saddam conclude that a U.S.-led attack could no longer be deterred, he probably would become much less constrained in adopting terrorist actions...Saddam might decide that the extreme step of assisting Islamist terrorists in conducting a attack against the United States would be his last chance to exact vengeance by taking a large number of victims with him."
- CIA report to the Senate Intelligence Committee , 7th October 2002
"My job is to protect the American people."
- President George W Bush, 6th March 2003
"To occupy Iraq would instantly shatter our coalition, turning the whole Arab world against us, and make a broken tyrant into a latter-day Arab hero...assigning young soldiers to a fruitless hunt for a securely entrenched dictator and condemning them to fight in what would be an unwinnable urban guerrilla war. It could only plunge that part of the world into even greater instability."
- Former President George Bush Sr. ‘A World Transformed’ (Page 464), 1998
"The forces fuelling hatred of the United States and fuelling Al Qaeda recruiting are not being addressed…the underlying causes that drive terrorists will persist."
- CIA report to the Senate Intelligence Committee, 7th October 2002
"The mission is to rout terrorists, to find them and bring them to justice, or as I explained to the prime minister in Western terms, to smoke them out of their caves, to get them running so we can get them."
- President George W. Bush, September 2001
"Israel's continuing encroachment on Arab territories, its undisguised oppression of the Palestinian people, and its pre-emptive attack on Iraq in 1981 are among the root causes not only of terrorism, but of Saddam Hussein's felt need to develop the means to deter further Israeli attacks."
- A statement by CIA veterans, February 2003
"They hate our freedoms - our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other."
- President George W. Bush, Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People, 20th September 2001
"Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al-Qaeda"
- President George W. Bush, State of the Union address
"I don't think Saddam Hussein's regime has the slightest thing to do with religious Islam."
- Under Secretary of State John Bolton, interview on Fuji-TV, 27th August
"I don't know anybody that I can think of who has contended that the Iraqis had nuclear weapons."
- Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, 24th June 2003
"He's had years to get good at it and we know he has been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons. And we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons."
- Vice President Dick Cheney, 16th March 2003
"He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours."
- Secretary of State, Colin Powell, 24th February 2001
"We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more."
- Secretary of State Colin Powell 5th February 2003, Address to the United Nations Security Council
"For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue -- weapons of mass destruction -- because it was the one reason everyone could agree on."
- Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Vanity Fair magazine's July issue 2003
“These are dangerous weapons, particularly if they fall into the hands of terrorists who we know want to use these weapons if they can get them.”
- Prime Minister Tony Blair, 11th March 2003
“An invasion might actually increase the likelihood of terrorist access to and acquisition of Iraq’s chemical and biological assets”
- Jane’s Terrorism & Security Monitor Report, 2002
"It was a surprise to me then, it remains a surprise to me now, that we have not uncovered weapons... in some of the forward dispersal sites. Again, believe me, it’s not for lack of trying. We’ve been to virtually every ammunition supply point between the Kuwaiti border and Baghdad, but they’re simply not there...We were simply wrong."
- Lt. General James Conway, USMC
"We will need to make it clear in launching the document that we do not claim that we have evidence that he is an imminent threat"
- Jonathan Powell, the prime minister's chief of staff, in a private government email uncovered by the Hutton inquiry
"The threat is serious and current"
- Prime Minister Tony Blair, in a September 2002 Government dossier
"So containment, using this arms control sanctions regime, I think has been reasonably successful."
- Secretary of State Colin Powell, 15th May 2001
“The policy of containment is not working. The WMD programme is not shut down. It is up and running.”
- Prime Minister Tony Blair, 24th September 2002
“Now there are some who would like to rewrite history -- revisionist historians is what I like to call them.”
- President George W. Bush, June 2003
"I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq"
- U.S. Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, July 2003
- Prime Minister Tony Blair, 17th July 2003
"The assessment I received [from British Intelligence] was that the greatest terrorist threat to Western interests came from al-Qaeda and related groups, and that this threat would be heightened by military action against Iraq"
- Prime Minister Tony Blair, in a written reply to Parliament, 15th October 2003
"It is our view that an invasion of Iraq would ensure overflowing recruitment centres for terrorists into the indefinite future. Far from eliminating the threat it would enhance it exponentially,"
- A statement by CIA veterans, February 2003
"The world is safer today because, in Iraq, our coalition ended a regime that cultivated ties to terror while it built weapons of mass destruction"
- President George W. Bush, September 2003
"War in Iraq has probably inflamed radical passions among Muslims and thus increased al-Qaeda's recruiting power and morale and, at least marginally, its operational capability"
- International Institute for Strategic Studies, Annual Report 2003-2004
"Should Saddam conclude that a U.S.-led attack could no longer be deterred, he probably would become much less constrained in adopting terrorist actions...Saddam might decide that the extreme step of assisting Islamist terrorists in conducting a attack against the United States would be his last chance to exact vengeance by taking a large number of victims with him."
- CIA report to the Senate Intelligence Committee , 7th October 2002
"My job is to protect the American people."
- President George W Bush, 6th March 2003
"To occupy Iraq would instantly shatter our coalition, turning the whole Arab world against us, and make a broken tyrant into a latter-day Arab hero...assigning young soldiers to a fruitless hunt for a securely entrenched dictator and condemning them to fight in what would be an unwinnable urban guerrilla war. It could only plunge that part of the world into even greater instability."
- Former President George Bush Sr. ‘A World Transformed’ (Page 464), 1998
"The forces fuelling hatred of the United States and fuelling Al Qaeda recruiting are not being addressed…the underlying causes that drive terrorists will persist."
- CIA report to the Senate Intelligence Committee, 7th October 2002
"The mission is to rout terrorists, to find them and bring them to justice, or as I explained to the prime minister in Western terms, to smoke them out of their caves, to get them running so we can get them."
- President George W. Bush, September 2001
"Israel's continuing encroachment on Arab territories, its undisguised oppression of the Palestinian people, and its pre-emptive attack on Iraq in 1981 are among the root causes not only of terrorism, but of Saddam Hussein's felt need to develop the means to deter further Israeli attacks."
- A statement by CIA veterans, February 2003
"They hate our freedoms - our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other."
- President George W. Bush, Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People, 20th September 2001
"Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al-Qaeda"
- President George W. Bush, State of the Union address
"I don't think Saddam Hussein's regime has the slightest thing to do with religious Islam."
- Under Secretary of State John Bolton, interview on Fuji-TV, 27th August
"I don't know anybody that I can think of who has contended that the Iraqis had nuclear weapons."
- Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, 24th June 2003
"He's had years to get good at it and we know he has been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons. And we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons."
- Vice President Dick Cheney, 16th March 2003
"He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours."
- Secretary of State, Colin Powell, 24th February 2001
"We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more."
- Secretary of State Colin Powell 5th February 2003, Address to the United Nations Security Council
"For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue -- weapons of mass destruction -- because it was the one reason everyone could agree on."
- Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Vanity Fair magazine's July issue 2003
“These are dangerous weapons, particularly if they fall into the hands of terrorists who we know want to use these weapons if they can get them.”
- Prime Minister Tony Blair, 11th March 2003
“An invasion might actually increase the likelihood of terrorist access to and acquisition of Iraq’s chemical and biological assets”
- Jane’s Terrorism & Security Monitor Report, 2002
"It was a surprise to me then, it remains a surprise to me now, that we have not uncovered weapons... in some of the forward dispersal sites. Again, believe me, it’s not for lack of trying. We’ve been to virtually every ammunition supply point between the Kuwaiti border and Baghdad, but they’re simply not there...We were simply wrong."
- Lt. General James Conway, USMC
"We will need to make it clear in launching the document that we do not claim that we have evidence that he is an imminent threat"
- Jonathan Powell, the prime minister's chief of staff, in a private government email uncovered by the Hutton inquiry
"The threat is serious and current"
- Prime Minister Tony Blair, in a September 2002 Government dossier
"So containment, using this arms control sanctions regime, I think has been reasonably successful."
- Secretary of State Colin Powell, 15th May 2001
“The policy of containment is not working. The WMD programme is not shut down. It is up and running.”
- Prime Minister Tony Blair, 24th September 2002
“Now there are some who would like to rewrite history -- revisionist historians is what I like to call them.”
- President George W. Bush, June 2003
"I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq"
- U.S. Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, July 2003
Andrew