The White House, President George W. Bush Click to print this document

For Immediate Release
February 4, 2003

Global Message

KEY POINTS

  • We are in the final phase of the 12 year effort to disarm Saddam Hussein.

  • The gravest danger we face is outlaw regimes that sponsor terror and possess or seek weapons of mass destruction.

  • As part of the cease-fire agreement at the end of the Gulf War in 1991, Saddam was required to declare and destroy all his weapons of mass destruction.

  • For over a decade, Saddam has consistently flouted these obligations. Eight weeks have now passed since Saddam was given his final chance. Six hundred weeks have passed since he was given his first chance.

  • The UN and U.S. intelligence sources have known for some time that Saddam Hussein has materials to produce chemical and biological weapons, but he has not accounted for them, nor has he accounted for almost 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents.

  • Thousands of Iraqi security personnel are at work hiding documents and materials from the UN inspectors. Iraqi officials accompany all inspectors in order to intimidate witnesses, and Saddam Hussein has ordered that scientists who cooperate with the UN be killed, along with their families.

  • Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists. Al-Qaida members are known to have been in Iraq. He could provide hidden weapons to terrorists or help them develop their own. It would take just one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into our country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known.

  • The United States has asked the UN Security Council to convene this week to consider the facts of Iraq's ongoing defiance of the world. We will consult. But if Saddam Hussein does not disarm, we will act for the safety of our people, and for the peace of the world.
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