How did the U.S. government lead its people to war?
Rhetoric and Spin
Iraq, al-Qaeda and 9/11
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March 6, 2003 press conference by President Bush, two weeks before the war in Iraq started, where he invoked 9/11 and al-Qaeda at least a dozen times
[link to source]BUSH: [Hussein] provides funding and training and safe haven to terrorists -- terrorists who would willingly use weapons of mass destruction against America and other peace-loving countries...
The attacks of September the 11th, 2001 showed what the enemies of America did with four airplanes. We will not wait to see what terrorists or terrorist states could do with weapons of mass destruction...
The cause of peace will be advanced only when the terrorists lose a wealthy patron and protector, and when the dictator is fully and finally disarmed...
Iraq is a part of the war on terror. Iraq is a country that has got terrorist ties. It's a country with wealth. It's a country that trains terrorists, a country that could arm terrorists...
September the 11th should say to the American people that we're now a battlefield...
I believe Saddam Hussein is a threat to the American people... He has trained and financed al-Qaeda-type organizations before, al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations...
...We live in a dangerous world... And I hope people remember the -- I know they remember the tragedy of September the 11th, but I hope they understand the lesson of September the 11th. The lesson is, is that we're vulnerable to attack, wherever it may occur, and we must take threats which gather overseas very seriously.
...It's hard to envision more terror on America than September the 11th, 2001. We did nothing to provoke that terrorist attack. It came upon us because there's an enemy which hates America. They hate what we stand for. We love freedom and we're not changing. And, therefore, so long as there's a terrorist network like al-Qaeda, and others willing to fund them, finance them, equip them -- we're at war.
