* Jan. 20, 2003 - "His regime has large, unaccounted for stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, including VX, sarin, mustard gas, anthrax, botulism and possibly smallpox. And he has an active program to acquire and develop nuclear weapons." - Rumsfeld.
* March 16, 2003 - "I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators." - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney to U.S. television network NBC.
* March 20, 2003 - "The criminal little Bush has committed a crime against humanity." - Saddam, on first day of invasion.
* April 10, 2003 - "Saddam Hussein is now taking his rightful place alongside Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Ceausescu in the pantheon of failed brutal dictators, and the Iraqi people are well on their way to freedom." - Rumsfeld.
* April 11, 2003 - "Stuff happens." - Rumsfeld, asked about rampant lawlessness in Baghdad after U.S. troops captured the capital. "It's untidy, and freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things."
* May 1, 2003 - "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." - U.S. President George W. Bush, aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln under a banner declaring "Mission Accomplished".
* July 24, 2003 - "Death is not enough. They should have been hung up on poles in a square in Baghdad so all Iraqis could see them. Then they should have died as people ate them alive." - Baghdad businessman Khalil Ali after U.S. forces kill Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay.
* Sept. 14, 2003 - "He (Saddam) had long established ties with al Qaeda." - Cheney to a conservative think-tank.
* Oct. 3, 2003 - "There's no question this guy (Saddam) had invested billions in developing illegal programs of weapons of mass destruction and don't let anybody tell you this was not a significant threat." - Cheney to political fund-raiser in Iowa.
* Dec. 13, 2003 - "My name is Saddam Hussein. I am the president of Iraq, and I want to negotiate." - Saddam to U.S. troops who captured him.
* Dec. 14, 2003 - "We got him," then U.S. governor of Iraq Paul Bremer announcing the capture of Saddam.
* Jan. 30, 2005 - "This is a historic moment for Iraq, a day when Iraqis can hold their heads high because they are challenging the terrorists and starting to write their future with their own hands." - interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
* March 31, 2005 - "The intelligence community was absolutely uniform and uniformly wrong about the existence of weapons of mass destruction (in Iraq)." - Laurence Silberman, co-chairman, Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States regarding weapons of mass destruction.
* March 19, 2006 - "We are losing each day on average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more. If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is." - former interim Prime Minister Allawi.
* Oct. 25, 2006 - "It's my responsibility to provide the American people with a candid assessment on the way forward ... Absolutely, we're winning." - Bush.
* Nov. 2006 - "Here I offer myself in sacrifice." - Saddam, in a letter dictated after he was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity. "If my soul goes down this path (of martyrdom) it will face God in serenity."
* Dec. 20, 2006 - "We're not winning, we're not losing." - Bush in interview with the Washington Post.
* Dec. 30, 2006 - "Moqtada, Moqtada, Moqtada." - Unidentified man attending Saddam's hanging, referring to a Shiite cleric whose family was persecuted by Saddam. Saddam, the noose around his neck, responded: "Is this what you call manhood?"
* Dec 30, 2006 - "The tyrant has fallen." - Unidentified witness at hanging.
* Jan. 10, 2007 - "The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people -- and it is unacceptable to me ... Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me." - Bush.
* April 18, 2007 - "The street was transformed into a swimming pool of blood." - Shopkeeper Ahmed Hameed, witness to a car bombing in Baghdad that killed 140 people.
* Aug 26, 2007 - "There are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of their villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin. I ask them to come back to their senses," Maliki after Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton and other U.S. critics called for him to be replaced.
* Sept 10, 2007 - "We succeeded in stopping Iraq from sliding toward civil war, which was threatening our beloved country." - Maliki.
* Dec 5, 2007 - "I believe that the goal of a secure, stable and democratic Iraq is within reach." - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates during a visit to Baghdad. |
