On the recordMarch 17, 2004
I returned with a burden on my heart to carry this message back on behalf of these good people in Iraq for whom I developed a tremendous amount of affection and respect, that they lived in a hellish environment, subject to the most unspeakable cruelty by the tyranny of Saddam Hussein. We cannot lightly pass over that and we cannot lightly ignore that and we cannot trivialize that, regardless of whether or not the human rights record of this regime was a central focus in the public debate prior to the war.
Source
govinfo.gov
