On Tue, 23 Dec 2003 17:38:35 GMT, "J. R. Carroll"
wrote:


From The Washington Post:
Bush said the CIA's doubts about the charge -- that Iraq sought to buy
"yellowcake" uranium ore in Africa -- were "subsequent" to the Jan. 28 State
of the Union speech in which Bush made the allegation. Defending the broader
decision to go to war with Iraq, the president said the decision was made
after he gave Saddam Hussein "a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he
wouldn't let them in."

Bush's position was at odds with those of his own aides, who acknowledged
over the weekend that the CIA raised doubts that Iraq sought to buy uranium
from Niger more than four months before Bush's speech.

The president's assertion that the war began because Iraq did not admit
inspectors appeared to contradict the events leading up to war this spring:
Hussein had, in fact, admitted the inspectors and Bush had opposed extending
their work because he did not believe them effective.

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports
show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and
biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his
nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to
terrorists, including Al Qaeda members, though there is apparently no
evidence of his involvement in the terrible events of September 11,
2001. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein
will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical
warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons. Should he
succeed in that endeavor, he could alter the political and security
landscape of the Middle East, which as we know all too well affects
American security." -- Hillary Clinton, October 10, 2002
'If you own a gun and have a swimming pool in the yard, the swimming
pool is almost 100 times more likely to kill a child than the gun is.'"
Steven Levitt, UOC prof.