US Senate leader says weapons of mass destruction not main cause of Iraq war

AFP ^ | 06-26-03

[Brian S]

WASHINGTON, June 26 (AFP) - The Republican leader in the Senate said Thursday that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was not the main justification for the US-led invasion of Iraq.

"I'm not sure that's the major reason we went to war," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist told NBC television's Today Show.

Even without the discovery of alleged chemical and biological weapons, Frist said Americans still welcome the ouster of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

"If you talk to most of the American people today, to have Saddam Hussein and his rogue regime out of there is something the American people want, it's something they deserve," the Republican leader said.

"We know he has used weapons of mass destruction to kill thousands and thousands of his own people ... as well as outside of the country," he said.

Frist said Saddam's brutal record as a dictator alone was sufficient justification for his ouster.

"When you have a terrorist and people who harbor terrorists, and they've had weapons of mass destruction which they're used to kill their own people, invade other nations with those weapons ... to have him removed is something the American people want, they need and they feel much more secure with."

Frist added that he was not surprised that weapons of mass destruction have not been found in Iraq.

"The weapons of mass destruction that we're talking about today are new. They're little viruses, they're bacteria, they're chemicals, things you can't see, you can't touch, you can't smell. So intelligence is tough," he said.

"The administration made decisions based on the very best intelligence that we have available today," Frist insisted.

sg/tw

US-Iraq-weapons-politics

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Right on!