August 29, 2004

The war in Iraq, in President Bush's words:

''If we allow that to happen, a terrible line would be crossed.''

Oct. 7, 2002, citing U.S. intelligence to argue that Saddam and his ''nuclear holy warriors'' are building a weapons program that could produce a nuclear weapon in less than a year.

''If Saddam refuses even now to cooperate fully with the United Nations, he brings on himself the serious consequences.''

March 16, 2003, at the Azores summit with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

''To disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.''

March 19, 2003, outlining his goals as he took the United States to war.

''Only the use of armed forces'' can disarm Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

A March 21, 2003, notification of war sent to Congress.

''The conflict continues in Iraq, and our military may still face hard fighting. Yet the statues of the dictator and all the words of his terror regime are falling away.''

April 14, 2003, capping a week in which U.S. troops seized Saddam's capital, raided his palaces and helped jubilant Iraqis topple a statue of their deposed leader from its pedestal.

''He tried to fool the United Nations and did for 12 years by hiding these weapons. And so it's going to take time to find them. But we know he had them. And whether he destroyed them, moved them or hid them, we're going to find out the truth.''

April 24, 2003.

''Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.''

May 1, 2003, from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, where a sign read, ''Mission Accomplished.''

''The right decision was to remove Saddam Hussein from power. The tactics going into Iraq were based upon a certain set of assumptions, like refugee flows, hunger, oil destruction. Had we had to do it over again, we would look at the consequences of catastrophic success being so successful so fast that an enemy that should have surrendered or been done in escaped and lived to fight another day. I couldn't have sat down and said to you, 'By the way, we're going to be so victorious so quickly that we'll end up having to fight another third of the Baathists over the next year in order to bring liberty to the country.'''

Time magazine interview before the Republican National Convention in New York.

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sh_s_standing_o:.shtml