VIDEO: Bartlett Falsely Claims Saddam Had The ‘Capability’ For A Nuclear Weapons Program

Think Progress
Nov. 04, 2006

Had The ‘Capability’ For A Nuclear Weapons Program This morning on MSNBC, White House Counselor Dan Bartlett used a New York Times report to falsely claim Saddam Hussein “had the capability and he had the know-how to” develop nuclear weapons. Watch it:

The Times report documents Iraq’s efforts to conduct nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war and prior to sanctions. Contrary to Bartlett’s claim, Iraq had no nuclear capability at the time of the U.S. invasion in March 2003. Here are the facts, as reported in the Key Findings of the Duelfer Report:

– “Saddam Husayn ended the nuclear program in 1991 following the Gulf war. ISG found no evidence to suggest concerted efforts to restart the program.”

– “Although Saddam clearly assigned a high value to the nuclear progress and talent that had been developed up to the 1991 war, the program ended and the intellectual capital decayed in the succeeding years.”

– “The former Regime had no formal written strategy or plan for the revival of WMD after sanctions.”

Transcript:

BARTLETT: Obviously, in this case, Andrea, there has been a problem because these documents went on, and they reveal what many people knew, was that Saddam Hussein had the capability and was working toward a nuclear weapon program. They had the scientists and the documents.

MITCHELL: Before the first gulf war. These are dated documents, so they go back to what was discovered before the first gulf war.

BARTLETT: True, Andrea, but they didn’t lose that knowledge. They didn’t take down the scientific apparatus or the capabilities to develop that. And Charlie Duelfer and other weapons experts all said what Saddam Hussein was doing was waiting the international community out, to make sure they got the inspectors out, so that they can then restart their program. He had the capability and he had the know-how to do it. And I think that’s a stark reminder for people.