We Never Said Absolutely, Positively, For Certain

Once we were in Iraq and the administration was unable to find ANY weapons of mass destruction, they began minimizing their earlier statements. This would be funny if war weren’t so deadly serious, because they were SO sure while they were making the case for war. And afterwards, they were reduced to the grade-school equivalent of claiming “we never said absolutely, positively, for certain. And besides, we had our fingers crossed.”

We never believed that we'd just tumble over weapons of mass destruction in that country. (Donald Rumsfeld, Fox News interview, May 4, 2003)

U.S. officials never expected that "we were going to open garages and find" weapons of mass destruction. (Condoleeza Rice, Reuters interview, May 12, 2003)

I just don't know whether it was all destroyed years ago - I mean, there's no question that there were chemical weapons years ago - whether they were destroyed right before the war [or] whether they're still hidden. (Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, Commander 101st Airborne, press briefing, May 13, 2003)

I don't believe anyone that I know in the administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons. (Donald Rumsfeld, Senate appropriations subcommittee on defense hearing, May 14, 2003)

Interesting claim, since I assume he knows the Vice President rather well.

We believe [Hussein] has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons. (Dick Cheney, NBC's Meet the Press, March 16, 2003)

They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer. (Donald Rumsfeld, remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations, May 27, 2003)

It was a surprise to me then - it remains a surprise to me now - that we have not uncovered weapons, as you say, in some of the forward dispersal sites. Believe me, it's not for lack of trying. We've been to virtually every ammunition supply point between the Kuwaiti border and Baghdad, but they're simply not there. (Lt. Gen. James Conway, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, press interview, May 30, 2003)

I think some in the media have chosen to use the word 'imminent.’ Those were not words we used. We used 'grave and gathering' threat. (White House spokesman Scott McClellan, press briefing, Jan. 31, 2004)

Yes, you did. In fact, YOU personally used the word “imminent.” (This is like shooting fish in a barrel.)

This is about an imminent threat. (White House spokesman Scott McClellan, press briefing, Feb. 10, 2003)

After being asked whether Hussein was an “imminent” threat: Well, of course he is (White House spokesman Dan Bartlett, CNN interview, Jan. 26, 2003)

After being asked whether the U.S. went to war because officials said Hussein’s alleged weapons were a direct, imminent threat to the U.S.: Absolutely. (White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, press briefing, May 7, 2003)