WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
released the following statement this afternoon reacting to a report released
today by Chief Weapons Inspector Charles Duelfer:
"The last few days have seen serious damage to President Bush's already
questionable credibility on Iraq. Today, the chief U.S. weapons inspector in
Iraq, Charles Duelfer, reported that he found no weapons of mass destruction
in Iraq. Mr. Duelfer concluded that, although Saddam Hussein wanted to have
unconventional weapons, he did not have ability to produce them.
"According to the Duelfer report, Saddam had less of a WMD capability at
the time of the invasion than he had when United Nations inspectors left five
years before. The report makes clear that Saddam was neither an 'imminent'
threat as claimed by President Bush before the invasion, nor a 'growing'
threat as the President now maintains. Yet the President rushed to war
without giving UN weapons inspectors more time.
"The report comes on the heels of admissions by Ambassador Paul Bremer,
the former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, that the Bush
Administration failed to deploy enough troops to Iraq to secure the peace when
Saddam fell, and did not make curbing the violence and looting a high enough
priority once he did fall.
"Despite these admissions and revelations, the President has still not
explained why he rushed to war without a plan for the peace, and why the
Administration decided to disband the Iraqi army while at the same time
failing to get control of the army's stocks of weapons and ammunition. The
violent insurgency took root in the security vacuum created by these policies,
and our troops continue to bear the dangerous consequences of them today.
"With his credibility on Iraq in tatters, the President needs to level
with the American people as to why he engaged in a war of choice in Iraq that
has distracted us from the war on terror. The war has cost our troops more
than 1,000 lives and thousands more injured for life, cost U.S. taxpayers
hundreds of billions of dollars, and cost America untold damage to our
reputation around the world. The President must be held accountable for this
appalling mistake."
SOURCE Office of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
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Related links:
http://democraticleader.house.gov
CONTACT:
Brendan Daly of the Office of House
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, +1-202-226-7616
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