Colin Powell
Appearances
Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer
Episode 7: Pot of Gold
So... I spent four days and nights out at the CIA going over it and asking every way I could, are you sure of this? You have multiple sources on this. And I got those assurances. They're the same assurances that the intelligence community gave to the president, the same assurances the intelligence community gave to the Congress four months earlier.
Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer
Episode 7: Pot of Gold
Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, distinguished colleagues, I would like to begin by expressing my thanks for the special effort that each of you made to be here today. This is an important day for us all as we review the situation with respect to Iraq and its disarmament obligations under UN Security Council Resolution 1441.
Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer
Episode 7: Pot of Gold
I cannot tell you everything that we know, but what I can share with you, when combined with what all of us have learned over the years, is deeply troubling.
Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer
Episode 7: Pot of Gold
Indeed, the facts and Iraq's behavior show that Saddam Hussein and his regime are concealing their efforts to produce more weapons of mass destruction.
Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer
Episode 7: Pot of Gold
I was more than embarrassed. I was mortified. Because even though the president had used the same information, Congress had used the same information, Secretary Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, all of us were using the same information, but I'm the one who made the biggest presentation of it. So it all sort of fell on me. That's show business.
Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer
Episode 7: Pot of Gold
I deeply regret that the information, some of the information, not all of it, some of the information I presented, which was multi-sourced, was wrong. And it is a blot on my record.
Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer
Episode 7: Pot of Gold
This is just about the amount of a teaspoon. Less than a teaspoonful of dry anthrax in an envelope shut down the United States Senate in the fall of 2001. This forced several hundred people to undergo emergency medical treatment and killed two postal workers just from an amount just about this quantity. that was inside of an envelope. But Saddam Hussein could have produced 25,000 liters.
Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer
Episode 7: Pot of Gold
This amount would be enough to fill tens upon tens upon tens of thousands of teaspoons.
Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer
Episode 7: Pot of Gold
Leaving Saddam Hussein 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. We must not fail in our duty and our responsibility to the citizens of the countries that are represented by this body. Thank you, Mr. President.
Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer
Episode 7: Pot of Gold
He said, what should we do? I said, well, we should first and foremost take it to the United Nations. And we then had a meeting a week or so later, and every member of the national security team agreed with the judgment that we take it to the U.N.