John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Let me start at the beginning. I believe that the participation of Australia in the coalition back in 2003 was correct. I remind the Leader of the Opposition that he was even more strident than I was in his assertion that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. He was not relying on intelligence when he gave that now famous address—and it is going to become even more famous as time goes by—to the State Zionist Council of Victoria. This is what he had to say:

Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction.

It got even better—

That is a matter of empirical fact. If you don’t believe the intelligence assessments, you simply read the most recent bulletin from the Federation of American Scientists, which lists Iraq among a number of States in possession of chemical, biological weapons and with a capacity to develop a nuclear program.

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