Claims of Imminent or Immediate Threat

Claims:
McClellan: (1/27/04) I think some in the media have chosen to use the word "imminent." Those were not words we used.

Rumsfeld: (3/14/04) You and a few other critics are the only people I've heard use the phrase 'immediate threat.' I didn't. The president didn't.
SCHIEFFER: Vice president didn't say that? The...
RUMSFELD: Not--if--if you have any citations, I'd like to see 'em.

Quotes:
Rumsfeld: (9/19/02) "Some have argued that the nuclear threat from Iraq is not imminent, that Saddam is at least five to seven years away from having nuclear weapons. I would not be so certain."

"No terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people and the stability of the world and the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq."

"Absolutely."
• White House spokesman Ari Fleischer answering whether Iraq was an "imminent threat," 5/7/03


	McLellan: Grave and Gathering Threat Jan. 2004, Scott McClellan MR. McCLELLAN: I think we've said all along that it was a grave and gathering threat. And that in a post-September 11th world, you must confront gathering threats before it's too late... I think some in the media have chosen to use the word "imminent." Q The President himself never used that word? MR. McCLELLAN: Those were not words we used. ... (more)


	Bush: Direct Threat Mar. 6, 2003 George W. Bush "Saddam Hussein and his weapons are a direct threat to this country, to our people and to all free people." (more)


	Rumsfeld: Serious and Mounting Threat Jan. 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld "Iraq poses a serious and mounting threat to our country. His regime has the design for a nuclear weapon, was working on several different methods of enriching uranium, and recently was discovered seeking significant quantities of uranium from Africa."


	Bush: Grave and Growing Danger Oct. 5, 2002 George W. Bush "The danger to America from the Iraqi regime is grave and growing. The regime is guilty of beginning two wars. It has a horrible history of striking without warning. ... Iraq has stockpiled biological and chemical weapons, and is rebuilding the facilities used to make more of those weapons." (more)


	Rice: Existential Threat Oct. 1, 2002 Condoleezza Rice "Today's threats come less from massing armies than from small, shadowy bands of terrorists -- less from strong states than from weak or failed states. And after 9/11, there is no longer any doubt that today America faces an existential threat to our security -- a threat as great as any we faced during the Civil War, the so-called "Good War", or the Cold War." (more)


	Rumsfeld: Immediate threat Sep. 10, 2002 Donald Rumsfeld "But no terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people and the stability of the world than the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq." (more)


	Cheney: Mortal Threat Aug. 6, 2002 Dick Cheney "What we must not do in the face of a mortal threat is to give in to wishful thinking or willful blindness. We will not simply look away, hope for the best and leave the matter for some future administration to resolve." (more)


	'Mortal' threat Feb. 03, ---- Stephen Hadley, Deputy National Security Advisor "September 11th made clear that our Nation - and all civilized nations - face a mortal threat from terror, from states that harbor terror, and from states that would arm themselves and perhaps terrorists with weapons of mass destruction." (more)


	An Imminent Threat MoveOn.org has documented how both Administration spokespeople and the President used either the word “imminent” or synonyms to describe Saddam Hussein’s “threat” to the U.S. The Bush Administration is now saying it never told the public that Iraq was an "imminent" threat, and therefore it should be absolved for overstating the case for war and misleading the American people about Iraq's WMD (The Center for American Progress).


	Answer: All of the above. 2004 Face the Nation (more)


	Bush: A Threat to the American People Mar. 10, 2004 George W. Bush "In Iraq, this administration looked at the intelligence and we saw a threat to the American people. The Congress looked at the same intelligence, and they saw a threat. The United Nations Security Council looked at the intelligence and it saw a threat." (more)

http://zfacts.com/p/304.html | 01/18/12 07:21 GMT
Modified: Mon, 17 Apr 2006 05:43:54 GMT