Just to set the historical record straight, since there are
certain people here at DailyKos who deny the fact that almost all Democratic and Republican leaders believed, pre-war, that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, I decided to collect key quotes from leading Democratic figures regarding WMD and the 2003 Iraq War. Here they are.
(By the way, the point here is simply to prove that, pre-Iraq War, pretty much every leading political figure in both parties assumed that Saddam Hussein had WMD and was building more. So, as much as we can't stand Bush, this issue didn't just spring out of nowhere during the last 4 years).
Howard Dean (2/17/03):
I agree with President Bush -- he has said that Saddam Hussein is evil. And he is. (Hussein) is a vicious dictator and a documented deceiver. He has invaded his neighbors, used chemical arms and failed to account for all the chemical and biological weapons he had before the Gulf War. He has murdered dissidents and refused to comply with his obligations under U.N. Security Council Resolutions. And he has tried to build a nuclear bomb. Anyone who believes in the importance of limiting the spread of weapons of mass killing, the value of democracy, and the centrality of human rights must agree that Saddam Hussein is a menace. The world would be a better place if he were in a different place other than the seat of power in Baghdad or any other country. So I want to be clear. Saddam Hussein must disarm. This is not a debate; it is a given.
Hillary Clinton (April 20, 2004):
No, I don't regret giving the president authority because at the time it was in the context of weapons of mass destruction, grave threats to the United States, and clearly, Saddam Hussein had been a real problem for the international community for more than a decade.
John Kerry (Jan. 23, 2003):
Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime ... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction ... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real...
President Clinton (Feb. 4, 1998):
One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line.
Madeleine Albright (Feb. 1, 1998):
We must stop Saddam from ever again jeopardizing the stability and security of his neighbors with weapons of mass destruction.
Sandy Berger (Feb. 18, 1998):
He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983.
Nancy Pelosi (Dec. 16, 1998):
Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process.
Carl Levin (Sept. 19, 2002):
We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them.
Al Gore (Sept. 23, 2002):
Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power.
Ted Kennedy (Sept. 27, 2002):
We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction.
Jay Rockefeller (Oct. 10, 2002):
There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years ... We also should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction.
Bob Graham (Dec. 8, 2002):
We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction.
and, from overseas...
Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer (Sept. 17, 2002):
Everyone I spoke to agreed that the threat from Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs were real and could not be ignored by the international community. There was also a clear understanding that the authority of the United Nations was at stake - a point also made by the UN Secretary General, Mr Annan.
And don't forget the article in Common Dreams (9/8/02) that said the US and Britain SOLD Saddam "the technology and materials Iraq needed to develop nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons of mass destruction."
Finally, as far as Scott Ritter is concerned (since many here cite him as one example of a person, pre-Iraq war, arguing that Saddam did NOT have WMD), as far as I can tell he never claimed certainty that Saddam didn't have WMD, just that he believed "between 90% and 95% of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were destroyed by the UN."