Transcript of President Bush's statement

The White House ^ | 02-06-03 | President Bush

[jla]

I was being a bit facetious, a/c of you're profile pg. stating ya were in Falls Church.

[Ichneumon]

"And we have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells the world he does not have."

Did Bush just tell Saddam that his most secure means of communication is compromised?

More likely, we just told Saddam that at least some of his field commanders are passing that information to us.

Now Saddam gets to go paranoid wondering *which* ones. He doesn't know *who* he can trust.

Plus, this will cause Saddam to distribute less information to his field commanders out of mistrust, and the less he tells them, the more confused their war effort will be.

[Ichneumon]

He is saying that Iraq's time is up.

I disagree. I heard the speech live on the radio, and it sounded to me as if he was telling the *UN* that their time is up. This was Bush telling the UN that the time for endless debates is over -- it's time that they either "lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way".

And that if they fail to lead or follow, they will have proven their irrelevancy.

[Ichneumon]

"Now the Security Council will show whether its words have any meaning."

I listened to this speech live on the radio, and this written transcript doesn't do his words justice. He put a heavy, very meaningful emphasis on the word "any" in this sentence.

This was not a throw-away comment. This was a throwing down of the guantlet to the UN, with a cattle-prod for punctuation. There was an unmistakable "this is your last chance to stay relevant" tone to his delivery of this line (and much of the whole speech).

And the President's tone also said that he had strong doubts that the UN would pass the test.

[Lion's Cub]

I agree with your assessment.

Godspeed our troops and protect them. We call this a desert war, but it's going to be fought in a swamp.

[CyberAnt]

"Security Council will show whether its words have any meaning"

Perfect wording!!

[CyberAnt]

You're right - but I believe it would happen on the East Coast first, primarily because Wash.D.C. and NYC are centers of govt and commerce.

[txrangerette]

"A senior Al Quaeda"

"How senior?"

I heard #3 after Bin Laden(I think).

[CyberAnt]

Hmmmm? I didn't get that from the picture.

What I got was: the train is leaving - either get on board or get left behind.

[yendu bwam]

Yes, Bush was indeed also telling the UN its time is up - that's because we're going to war - with or without the UN.