White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer said, on December 5, 2002, “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 were not true and if they did not have a solid basis for saying it.” In light of the revelations of former Weapons Inspector David Kay, that there were no weapons of mass destruction, the words of the White House have an eerie, almost spectral quality. One wonders, did they say that?
For those millions of Americans with a short memory, let us reacquaint them. On WMDs, Vice President Dick Cheney has said, on August 26, 2002, “Simply stated, there’s no doubt that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction.” Almost two weeks later, National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleeza Rice announced, “Saddam Hussein is actively pursuing a nuclear weapon. We do know that there have been shipments into Iraq of aluminum tubes that really are only suited to nuclear weapons programs.” Days later, the irascible Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, announced, “Iraq has amassed large clandestine stockpiles of chemical weapons, including VX, sarin, and mustard gas.” And let us not forget the Commander in Chief, his highness George Bush, who, on September 28, 2002, said, “The danger to our country is grave and growing. The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons, is rebuilding the facilities to make more, and according to the British government, could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes.”
The very next day, the President took to the airwaves on his Saturday broadcast. “We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons, the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have.” On the next Monday, in Cincinnati, the President announced strong evidence of the Iraqi weapons programs. “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 UAV’s for missions targeting the United States. The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program. Satellite photographs reveal that Iraq is rebuilding facilities at sites that have been part of its nuclear program in the past, facing clear evidence of peril. We cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun, that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.”
America’s respected Secretary of State, Colin Powell made a dramatic presentation before the United Nations Security Council on the fifth of February, 2003. “There can be no doubt, that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce many, many more. We have firsthand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels and on rails. Numerous intelligence reports over the past decade from sources in Iraq indicate that Saddam Hussein retains a covert force of up to a few dozen Scud variant ballistic missiles. Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agents. My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we’re giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence.” Then there was a war, and voila, everything changed. It became, “Weapons? Who said anything about weapons?” There is indeed a weapon of mass destruction. It’s called, The White House. From death row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are produced by Noelle Hanrahan for Prison Radio.
