He’s either a complete liar or he’s completely senile. Either way, he should resign tomorrow. This is just outrageous.
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he did not recall British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s pre-war claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction ready to be deployed in 45 minutes.
“I don’t remember the statement being made, to be perfectly honest,” Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference.
General Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he didn’t remember the statement either.
The claim made headlines around the world after Blair leveled it in a 55-page “white paper” presented to the House of Commons in September 2002.
I can’t even begin to express my astonishment.
And then there’s this:
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, asked about Tuesday’s car bombing in Iraq that killed about 50 people, said there are murders in every major city in the world “because human beings are human beings.”
…afterthought: I wonder if Rumsfeld remembers Bush making the 45-minute claim?
The White House, in the run-up to war in Iraq, did not seek CIA approval before charging that Saddam Hussein could launch a biological or chemical attack within 45 minutes, administration officials now say.
The claim, which has since been discredited, was made twice by President Bush, in a September Rose Garden appearance after meeting with lawmakers and in a Saturday radio address the same week. Bush attributed the claim to the British government, but in a “Global Message” issued Sept. 26 and still on the White House Web site, the White House claimed, without attribution, that Iraq “could launch a biological or chemical attack 45 minutes after the order is given.”
…this is the biggest problem I face as a satirist these days: these guys keep outdoing my cartoons. How am I supposed to stay ahead?