Colin Powell in United Nations


On Foreign Policy: UN faces irrelevance if it does not respond to Iraq

1441 states that a failure by Iraq at any time to cooperate in the implementation of this resolution shall constitute material breach of its obligation. We wrote it this way to give Iraq a test. I believe that Iraq is now in further material breach. I believe this conclusion is irrefutable. Iraq has now placed itself in danger of the serious consequences called for in 1441. This body places itself in danger of irrelevance if it allows Iraq to continue without responding effectively & immediately.
Source: Speech to the United Nations Security Council Feb 5, 2003

On War & Peace: Inspectors are inspectors, not detectives

Resolution 1441 gave Iraq one last chance to come into compliance or to face serious consequences. No council member that day had any allusions about the intent of the resolution or what “serious consequences” meant if Iraq did not comply. We called on Iraq to cooperate with returning inspectors. This council placed the burden on Iraq to comply and disarm and not on the inspectors to find that which Iraq has gone out of its way to conceal for so long. Inspectors are inspectors; they are not detectives.
Source: Speech to the United Nations Security Council (Bush Cabinet) Feb 5, 2003

On War & Peace: The facts show Iraq has not disarmed

My purpose is to share with you what the US knows about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction as well as Iraq’s involvement in terrorism. The material comes from a variety of sources. Iraq’s behavior demonstrates that Saddam Hussein has made no effort to disarm. The facts show that Saddam is concealing his efforts to produce weapons of mass destruction.
Source: Speech to the United Nations Security Council (Bush Cabinet) Feb 5, 2003

On War & Peace: Iraq moved weapons to hide them from inspectors

Human sources tell us that the Iraqis are moving, not just documents & hard drives, but weapons of mass destruction to keep them from being found. While we were debating Resolution 1441 last fall, we know that a missile brigade outside Baghdad was disbursing rocket launchers & warheads containing biological warfare agents to various locations in western Iraq. Most of the launchers & warheads have been hidden in large groves of palm trees & were to be moved every 1 to 4 weeks to escape detection.
Source: Speech to the United Nations Security Council (Bush Cabinet) Feb 5, 2003

On War & Peace: Saddam has enough anthrax to kill thousands

Less than a teaspoon of dry anthrax in an envelope shutdown the US Senate. This forced several hundred people to undergo emergency medical treatment & killed two postal. Iraq declared 8,500 liters of anthrax, but UNSCOM estimates that Saddam Hussein could have produced 25,000 liters. If concentrated into this dry form, this amount would be enough to fill tens upon tens upon tens of thousands of teaspoons.
Source: Speech to the United Nations Security Council (Bush Cabinet) Feb 5, 2003

On War & Peace: WMD inspectors eluded by producing weapons in mobile labs

Although Iraq’s mobile production program began in the mid-1990s, confirmation came later. The source was an engineer who supervised one of these facilities. He was present during biological agent production runs. He was also at the site when an accident occurred in 1998. 12 technicians died from exposure. He reported that when UNSCOM was inspecting, the biological weapons agent production always began on Thursdays at midnight because Iraq thought UNSCOM would not inspect on the Muslim Holy Day.
Source: Speech to the United Nations Security Council (Bush Cabinet) Feb 5, 2003

On War & Peace: Photo shows Iraqi jet modified to spray anthrax

Saddam has investigated biological agents causing diseases such as gangrene, plague, typhus, tetanus, cholera, camelpox and hemorrhagic fever, and he also has the wherewithal to develop smallpox. The regime has also developed ways to disburse lethal biological agents. For example, Iraq had a program to modify aerial fuel tanks for Mirage jets. This video shows an Iraqi F-1 Mirage jet. Note the spray coming from beneath the Mirage; that is 2,000 liters of simulated anthrax that a jet is spraying.
Source: Speech to the United Nations Security Council (Bush Cabinet) Feb 5, 2003

On War & Peace: Iraq has at least 100 tons of chemical weapons

Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons. That is enough agent to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets. Even the low end of 100 tons of agent would enable Saddam to cause mass casualties acro more than 100 square miles of territory. Of the 122 millimeter chemical warheads, that the U.N. inspectors found recently, this discovery could very well be the tip of the submerged iceberg.
Source: Speech to the United Nations Security Council (Bush Cabinet) Feb 5, 2003

On War & Peace: Iraq has been trying to enrich uranium

Saddam’s efforts to reconstitute his nuclear program have focused on acquiring material to produce a nuclear explosion. To make the material, he needs to enrich uranium. He has made repeated attempts to acquire high-specification aluminum tubes from 11 different countries, even after inspections resumed. We also have intelligence that Iraq is attempting to acquire magnets and high-speed balancing machines; both items can be used in a gas centrifuge program to enrich uranium.
Source: Speech to the United Nations Security Council (Bush Cabinet) Feb 5, 2003

On War & Peace: Intelligence shows links between Iraq and terrorists

Iraq harbors a terrorist network headed by Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. Zarqawi, a Palestinian born in Jordan, fought in the Afghan war more than a decade ago. Returning to Afghanistan in 2000, he oversaw a terrorist training camp. One of his specialties is poisons. When our coalition ousted the Taliban, the Zarqawi network helped establish a training center in Iraq. Baghdad has an agent in the most senior levels of the radical organization. In 2000 this agent offered Al Qaida safe haven in the region.
Source: Speech to the United Nations Security Council (Bush Cabinet) Feb 5, 2003

On War & Peace: Documented ties between Iraq & Al Qaida

Al Qaida coordinates the movement of people, money & supplies into Iraq, & they’ve been operating in the capital for more than eight months. Iraqi officials deny accusations of ties with Al Qaida. These denials are simply not credible. Last year an Al Qaida associate bragged that the situation in Iraq was, quote, “good,” that Baghdad could be transited quickly. A detained Al Qaida member tells us that Saddam was willing to assist Al Qaida after the 1998 bombings of our embassies in Kenya & Tanzania
Source: Speech to the United Nations Security Council (Bush Cabinet) Feb 5, 2003

On War & Peace: Our future is frightening unless we act against Iraq

The nexus of Iraq & terror is old. Iraqi denials of supporting terrorism take the place alongside the other denials of weapons of mass destruction. It is all a web of lies. When we confront a regime that harbors ambitions for regional domination, hides weapons of mass destruction & provides support for terrorists, we are not confronting the past, we are confronting the present. Unless we act, we are confronting an even more frightening future.
Source: Speech to the United Nations Security Council (Bush Cabinet) Feb 5, 2003

On War & Peace: Saddam killed 5,000 Kurds with mustard & nerve gas

Saddam’s use of mustard & nerve gas against the Kurds in 1988 was one of the 20th century’s most horrible atrocities; 5,000 died. His campaign against the Kurds from 1987 to ‘89 included mass summary executions, disappearances, arbitrary jailing, ethnic cleansing & the destruction of some 2,000 villages. Saddam ruthlessly eliminates anyone who dares to dissent. Iraq has more forced disappearance cases than any other country.
Source: Speech to the United Nations Security Council (Bush Cabinet) Feb 5, 2003

On War & Peace: Post 9/11, we cannot allow Iraq to have nuclear weapons

Given Saddam’s history of aggression, his grandiose plans, and his terrorist associations, should we take the risk that he will not some day use these weapons at a time when the world is in a much weaker position to respond? The US will not run that risk to the American people. Leaving Saddam in possession of weapons of mass destruction for a few more months or years is not an option, not in a post-September 11th world.
Source: Speech to the United Nations Security Council (Bush Cabinet) Feb 5, 2003

On War & Peace: Iraq close to facing serious consequences for defiance

Three months ago this council recognized that Iraq continued to pose a threat to international peace, and that Iraq had been and remained in material breach of its disarmament obligations. Today Iraq still poses a threat and still remains in material breach. Indeed, by its failure to seize on its one last opportunity to disarm, Iraq has put itself in deeper material breach and closer to the day when it will face serious consequences for its defiance of this council.
Source: Speech to the United Nations Security Council (Bush Cabinet) Feb 5, 2003

On War & Peace: We wrote Resolution 1441 to preserve peace

We have an obligation to our citizens, we have an obligation to this body to see that our resolutions are complied with. We wrote 1441 not in order to go to war, we wrote 1441 to try to preserve the peace. We wrote 1441 to give Iraq one last chance. Iraq is not so far taking that one last chance.
Source: Speech to the United Nations Security Council (Bush Cabinet) Feb 5, 2003

The above quotations are from Speeches at the United Nations.
Click here for other excerpts from Speeches at the United Nations.
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