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Out of context: Reply #154
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Issued conflicting information to justify war with Iraq. In February 2001 Powell met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Amre Moussa. In a press briefing on that meeting, Powell described a discussion he had with Moussa regarding the sanctions on Iraq. He stated that the sanctions were required in order to “[keep] in check Saddam Hussein's ambitions toward developing weapons of mass destruction.” [2] Powell further explained that the sanctions had proven successful, saying, “they [the sanctions] have worked. He [Sadaam Hussein] has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors.” [3] This statement conflicts with assertions Powell made in March 2003 to the UN Security Council in justifying the case for war with Iraq: “Iraq had and still has the capability to manufacture these kinds of weapons, Iraq had and still has the capability to manufacture not only chemical but biological weapons, and Iraq had and still has literally tens of thousands of delivery systems...” [4]
When addressing the UN Security Council in February 2003, Powell claimed that intelligence had taken photographs of an area that was a “poison and explosive training center camp,” and its purpose was to teach “operatives how to produce ricin and other poisons.” [5] British journalists traveled to the camp days after Powell made this assertion only to find “a dilapidated collection of concrete outbuildings at the foot of a grassy sloping hill. Behind the barbed wire, and a courtyard strewn with broken rocket parts, are a few empty concrete houses. There is a bakery. There is no sign of chemical weapons anywhere - only the smell of paraffin and vegetable ghee used for cooking.” [6]
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