SCHAKOWSKY: BUSH ADMINISTRATIONS MISSTATEMENT OF THE DAY FACTS ABOUT IRAQS WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

DECEMBER 17, 2003

SCHAKOWSKY: BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S MISSTATEMENT OF THE DAY -
"FACTS" ABOUT IRAQ'S
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) issued today's "Bush Administration's Misstatement of the Day" following a statement by Vice President Dick Cheney as reported in the Washington Post (12/17/03):

(Vice President Dick) Cheney also criticized what he considers a proliferation of "cheap shot journalism" about the administration. "People don't check the facts," he said.

• "We know where the [WMD] are." - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, (ABC "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," 3/30/03)

• "We believe Saddam has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons." - Vice President Cheney (NBC "Meet the Press," 3/16/03)

• "There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more.Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agent. That is enough agent to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets." - Secretary of State Colin Powell (Address before UN Security Council, 2/5/03)

• "Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent." - President Bush (State of the Union Address, 1/28/03)

• "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt that he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us." -Vice President Cheney (Speech to VFW 103rd National Convention, 8/26/02)

Read the following Misstatements of the Day relating to pre-war intelligence claims by the Bush Administration:

• December 1, 2003
• October 24, 2003
• October 7, 2003
• October 1, 2003