国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

Regardless of whether Iraq had stockpiles of banned weapons, Washington would probably have decided to invade Iraq anyway because of its "intent" and its weapons-making ability, Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Tuesday.

"I think it was clear that this was a regime with intent, capability and it was a risk the president felt strongly we could not take and it was something we all agreed to and would probably agree to it again under any other set of circumstances," Powell told reporters.

The United States' main justification for invading Iraq in its first pre-emptive war was to eliminate the threat from President Saddam Hussein's banned weapons.

But the man U.S. President George W. Bush appointed to lead the search for the weapons, David Kay, said late last month he believed there were in fact no stockpiles of weapons.

Powell, who made Washington's keynote presentation before the United Nations to detail pre-war intelligence about Iraq's weapons program, said, "The only thing that is even being discussed right now is what stockpiles were out there."

He noted that the intelligence surrounding the existence of those weapons was to be investigated by a commission Bush is setting up.

"But the bottom line is this: The president made the right decision. He made the right decision based on the history of this regime, the intention that this leader -- terrible, despotic leader -- had, and the capabilities at a variety of levels," Powell said.

In his remarks, the top U.S. diplomat appeared to back away from comments in an interview published earlier on Tuesday with the Washington Post.

Asked if he would have recommended an invasion knowing Iraq had no prohibited weapons, Powell was quoted as saying, "I don't know, because it was the stockpile that presented the final little piece that made it more of a real and present danger and threat to the region and to the world."

Close

Today's Top News		Top International News
+Comment: Blueprint to cope with crises ( 2004-02-03) +Bird flu spreads; no Chinese human cases ( 2004-02-03) +Experts rebuke Chen's peace talk as 'hoax' ( 2004-02-03) +Chickening out on bird-flu fears ( 2004-02-03) +Six-party talks set for Feb 25 ( 2004-02-03)		+Powell says invasion justified by Iraqi 'intent' ( 2004-02-04) +WHO warns against creating bird flu panic ( 2004-02-04) +Flu claims Thai boy ( 2004-02-03) +UN to give aid to impoverished bird flu nations ( 2004-02-03) +India deploys troops to keep out bird flu ( 2004-02-03)