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Powell regrets what he told UN about Iraq’s WMDs

DUBAI — Former US secretary of state Colin Powell has expressed his deep regret that much of the information he gave to the United Nations about former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction was wrong.

Speaking at the Leaders in Dubai Business Forum Gen. Powell said he regretted very much and was very disappointed that the information was not correct.

“But at the time we had every reason to believe that it was true. I spent a lot of time with the CIA sourcing the information before I gave that speech,” he said.

“Saddam Hussein had used chemical weapons in the past, he had had stockpiles of them that were found after the first Gulf War and he certainly had the capabilities to manufacture and use them,” Gen. Powell said.

He said that if the US had known at the time there were no weapons of mass destruction “it would have been a whole different equation” in Iraq.

“If Saddam Hussein had come forward with a full and complete declaration and he had not thrown the UN inspectors out, a war could have been avoided.”

Gen. Powell said the United States had not handled the second phase of the operation (the insurgency) in Iraq well and that had led to a third phase which could now aptly be described as a civil war.

It was now up to Iraq’s leadership to find a solution. The United States would help Iraq build up its military and police but there was a paradox because while the US was part of the solution it was also part of the problem.

“We cannot walk away but it is not sustainable to keep 140,000 military there and it has always been intended that control would be handed to Iraq,” he said.

Gen. Powell acknowledged there was a lot of anti-American feeling around the world but said he believed there was still a reservoir of good feeling towards the United States and its values. “The way we have talked in recent years has not helped, but our basic values of openness are still there,” he said.

Speaking of the restrictions on travel to and within the United States, Gen. Powell said the 9/11, the Madrid bombing and other terrorist acts were a tremendous shock and governments had to take action to protect their citizens.

“After a year I told President Bush that we had to readjust because what we were doing was telling people we did not want them in the United States.

“School enrolments from foreign students dropped off, overseas patient request to our hospitals were dropping and people did not want to go through the visa hassles and the airport profiling they saw.

“We have not readjusted enough yet,” said Gen. Powell, who recounted how he had twice recently been ‘patted down’ by security staff while passing through US airports.

“But it is improving,” he said. “It was in the United States’ interest to ensure it did improve because it needed to have young people go to America to study and live.”

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