Joe Wilson: “Charles Duelfer, the chief of the Iraq Survey Group, said in testimony before Congress that Saddam Hussein had plans to…”

“Charles Duelfer, the chief of the Iraq Survey Group, said in testimony before Congress that Saddam Hussein had plans to reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction, waiting for the sanctions to erode. In June 4, Mr. Duelfer told me that threat analysis while I visited him in Baghdad. This comes after former weapons inspector David Kay said earlier this year that Saddam was more of a serious threat than we thought. As President Bush said yesterday, Saddam Hussein retained the knowledge, the materials, the means and intent to produce weapons of mass destruction; and he could have passed that knowledge on to our terrorist enemies. After September 11, we learned we could no longer wait until threats became imminent. If we had waited to liberate Iraq, sanctions may have been lifted, and by that time he may have acquired the weapons that he so desperately wanted. Removing Saddam's brutal, terror-sponsoring regime was the right thing to do at the right time. Mr. Speaker, we need a courageous President that will continue to protect American families by stopping the enemies at the source in the war on terrorism to reduce the threat of warfare in American neighborhoods. In conclusion, may God bless our troops. We will never forget September 11.”