John Shadegg: “I think that is a great transition for a point I wanted to make about the whole issue of WMD. Some now, in hindsight…”

“I think that is a great transition for a point I wanted to make about the whole issue of WMD. Some now, in hindsight, would say, Well, the entire rationale for going to war was WMD. They try to make the argument that only now are we justifying our effort in part on liberating Iraq from the awesome and repressive rule of Saddam Hussein. What they forget is that the technical, legal reason for going to war in Iraq was, in fact, fully satisfied. They do not want people to think about that anymore. Even some people on this floor do not want you to think about that. But David Kay, the weapons inspector with whom you and I met in Iraq, who in fact was not able to demonstrate or establish beyond a question of a doubt now that there are stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, told me a week ago here in this Capitol building pointblank that there was absolutely no doubt but that Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolution 1441 and of the earlier U.N. resolution, I believe the number is 468, maybe you can recall the number, but, and this is David Kay, said there is absolutely no question but that Saddam Hussein was in clear violation as of when the war started of both U.N. resolutions. That was the legal premise for going to war in Iraq.”