David Drake

"Saddam Hussein announced that he would no longer cooperate with the United Nations weapons inspectors.

"Saddam Hussein [has used] chemical weapons against Iranian troops during a decade-long war. Not only against soldiers, but against civilians, firing Scud missiles at the citizens of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Iran. And not only against a foreign enemy, but even against his own people.

"Iraq repeatedly blocked UNSCOM from inspecting suspect sites.

"Prior to the inspection of another site, Iraq actually emptied out the building, removing not just documents but even the furniture and the equipment.

"Iraq has failed to turn over virtually all the documents requested by the inspectors.

"Instead of the inspectors disarming Saddam, Saddam has disarmed the inspectors."

- President Bill Clinton, December 16, 1998

Source: CNN All Politics

"We need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime. The threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real." - Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003

"Hussein has ... chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies." - Madeliene Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999.

"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."
- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002.

"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983." - Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998

"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process." - Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998.

"We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them." - Sen. Carl Levin (d, MI), Sept. 19, 2002.

"He has systematically violated, over the course of the past 11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that he disarm and destroy his chemical and biological weapons, and any nuclear capacity. This he has refused to do." - Rep. Henry Waxman (D, CA), Oct. 10, 2002.

"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."
- Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002

"Saddam Hussein retains his chemical and biological warfare capabilities and is actively pursuing nuclear capabilities." - Wesley Clark, House Armed Services Committee Testimony, September 26, 2002

Source Snopes

"Saddam Hussein is a tyrant who has tortured and killed his own people, even his own family members, to maintain his iron grip on power. He used chemical weapons on Iraqi Kurds and on Iranians, killing over 20 thousand people."

"Intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaeda members.

"Over eleven years have passed since the UN called on Saddam Hussein to rid himself of weapons of mass destruction as a condition of returning to the world community. Time and time again he has frustrated and denied these conditions." - Hillary Clinton (D, NY) Senate Floor Speech on Senate Bill S.J. 45, October 10, 2002. - Hillary Clinton, Senate Floor Speech on S.J. Res. 45, October 10, 2002. Source Hillary Clinton's Senate Website

"We don't need to hear [what] General Petraeus has to say." - Dennis Kucinich on the Ed Schultz program 40 minutes into the second hour - August 28, 2007

"[Petraeus] isn't in touch with what's going on in Baghdad." Harry Reid September 2007

"If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others — that had no concern for human beings." - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat - IL June, 2005

"And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the--of--the historical customs, religious customs." - U.S. Senator John Kerry, Democrat - MA December, 2005

"Now I believe, myself, that the secretary of state, the secretary of defense and you have to make your own decision as to what the president knows: that this war is lost, that the surge is not accomplishing anything." U.S. Senator Harry Reid, Democrat - NV April, 2007

"Let me be clear. The violence in Anbar has gone down despite the surge ---- not because of the surge. The inability of American soldiers to protect these tribes from Al-Qaeda said to these tribes, 'We have to fight Al-Qaeda ourselves.' It wasn't that the surge brought peace here. It was that the warlords took peace here, created a temporary peace here." - U.S. Senator Cluck Schumer, Democrat - NY September, 2007

"No matter how many times the Administration denies it, there is no question they misled the nation and led us into a quagmire in Iraq." - U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy Democrat MA - January 2005

"What we now have in Iraq is a defeat." - U.S. Congressman Henry Waxman, Democrat - CA February 2007

"I certainly did not agree with the resolution to go to war." - U.S. Congressman and Speakeress of the House Nancy Pelosi - Democrat CA - November 2006

"It [Haditha, Marines] is as bad as Abu Ghraib, if not worse." U.S. Congressman John Murtha - Democrat PA May 2006

"They [the Marines/Military] knew the day after this happened that it was not as they portrayed it. They knew that they (marines) went into the rooms, they killed the people in the taxi. There was no firing at all. And this comes from the highest authority in the Marine Corps, so there's no question in my mind," Murtha, May 2006

"... they [Marine] killed innocent civilians in cold blood." Murtha, May 17, 2006

"There was no firefight. There was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood." Murtha, May 19, 2006

"I think [Petraeus is] dead, flat wrong." Joe Biden, September 9, 2007

"None of us should be fooled [by the Petraeus Report] - not the American people, not you in the media, not us in Congress." - John Kerry September 9, 2007