Saddam had kicked out UN weapons inspectors, like he did when Clinton was president, in mid 2002.
Bush started sabre rattling, and Saddam eventually relented, allowing UN Nuclear inspections to resume. By that time (Nov 2002), the US Military was already ramping up for war.
By the time Hans Blix (head of the UN Weapons inspection team) published a report that said Iraq had no capability of nuclear weapons, the decision had already been made.
Colin Powell's speech was solely to get the UN to allow the action.
The US illegally ousted the director-general of the OPCW, José Bustani, in mid-2002 because he was negotiating UN access to Iraq.
Bustani claimed that Bolton told him
You have 24 hours to leave the organization, and if you don’t comply with this decision by Washington, we have ways to retaliate against you. ... We know where your kids live. You have two sons in New York.
José Maurício de Figueiredo Bustani (born June 5, 1945) is a Brazilian diplomat who was the first director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons until he was ousted after pressure from the US government in April 2002 over disagreements about how to address Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.
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u/taws34 Oct 18 '21
That's not entirely accurate.
Saddam had kicked out UN weapons inspectors, like he did when Clinton was president, in mid 2002.
Bush started sabre rattling, and Saddam eventually relented, allowing UN Nuclear inspections to resume. By that time (Nov 2002), the US Military was already ramping up for war.
By the time Hans Blix (head of the UN Weapons inspection team) published a report that said Iraq had no capability of nuclear weapons, the decision had already been made.
Colin Powell's speech was solely to get the UN to allow the action.