FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 06, 2004

CONTACT: Brendan Daly 202-226-7616

Pelosi: 'Last Few Days Have Seen Serious Damage to President Bush’s Already Questionable Credibility on Iraq'

Washington, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement this afternoon reacting to a report released today by Chief Weapons Inspector Charles Duelfer:

"The last few days have seen serious damage to President Bush’s already questionable credibility on Iraq.  Today, the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq, Charles Duelfer, reported that he found no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.  Mr. Duelfer concluded that, although Saddam Hussein wanted to have unconventional weapons, he did not have ability to produce them.

"According to the Duelfer report, Saddam had less of a WMD capability at the time of the invasion than he had when United Nations inspectors left five years before.  The report makes clear that Saddam was neither an ‘imminent’ threat as claimed by President Bush before the invasion, nor a ‘growing’ threat as the President now maintains.  Yet the President rushed to war without giving UN weapons inspectors more time.

"The report comes on the heels of admissions by Ambassador Paul Bremer, the former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, that the Bush Administration failed to deploy enough troops to Iraq to secure the peace when Saddam fell, and did not make curbing the violence and looting a high enough priority once he did fall.

"Despite these admissions and revelations, the President has still not explained why he rushed to war without a plan for the peace, and why the Administration decided to disband the Iraqi army while at the same time failing to get control of the army’s stocks of weapons and ammunition.  The violent insurgency took root in the security vacuum created by these policies, and our troops continue to bear the dangerous consequences of them today.

"With his credibility on Iraq in tatters, the President needs to level with the American people as to why he engaged in a war of choice in Iraq that has distracted us from the war on terror.  The war has cost our troops more than 1,000 lives and thousands more injured for life, cost U.S. taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, and cost America untold damage to our reputation around the world. The President must be held accountable for this appalling mistake."

“ Democrats are united in presenting a New Direction for America, one that will make our nation as strong as its people, one that brings opportunity, security, and prosperity to all Americans. ”

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi