Terry Everett, Aug 11, 2003

It's silly season in Washington. Add former Vice President Al Gore to the list of liberal politicians who are claiming the White House deceived the American people about the nature of Saddam's regime as an excuse to invade Iraq. Senator Bob Graham, D-Fla., trying to score points for his failing presidential campaign, has even called for President Bush's impeachment for the alleged deception. Such claims are ridiculous.

For the most part, the accusers base their case on these 16 words in President Bush's January State of the Union speech: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." This quote was supported by U.S. and British intelligence reports and was believed to be factual. It is still believed to be correct even though further investigation since January has shown that some of the intelligence about Saddam's attempts to secure such material from the African nation of Niger was faulty.

However, there is plenty of other evidence - and it remains the judgment of the intelligence community - that Saddam was reconstituting his nuclear weapons programs. We know that he maintained a cadre of nuclear scientists, and continued aggressive and covert efforts to obtain the equipment to manufacture nuclear weapons.

Regardless of whether he was trying to purchase nuclear material from Niger, Saddam's commitment to maintaining and bolstering his weapons of mass destruction program (WMD) and his regime's ties with terrorists, including Al Qaeda, posed a direct threat to the United States. A threat we could not in good conscience continue to ignore.

In case those who claim we had no cause to end Saddam's menace to the world have forgotten, let's recap his record.

Saddam used chemical weapons against Iraqi civilians killing tens of thousands. His regime maintained a growing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons program which did not end with the first Gulf War. Indeed, his regime failed to account for at least 30,000 liters of biological agents (including anthrax, botulinum toxin, and aflatoxin), 3.9 tons of nerve agent VX, over 25,000 empty munitions that could be filled with chemical agents, 550 artillery shells filled with mustard agents, and over 6,000 chemical aerial bombs. And, he employed a team of nuclear scientists called his "nuclear Mujahadeen" and actively sought to obtain the tools to manufacture gas centrifuges for uranium enrichment.

Saddam not only had the desire and the means to pose a threat, he also had connections to those who shared his hatred for America. Iraq harbored Musab al-Zarqawi, a known associate of Osama Bin Laden who directed an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan and oversaw a poisons lab in northeast Iraq. Saddam sheltered the notorious Abu Nidal whose organization carried out more than 90 terror attacks in 20 counties that killed or injured 900 people including 12 Americans. Saddam also stoked terrorism and violence in the Middle East by paying the families of suicide bombers $25,000 for attacking innocent civilians. And the list goes on.

It is simply amazing anyone could fail to see the clear and present danger posed by the regime of Saddam Hussein. If Saddam's record is not enough, we are already uncovering more evidence of his mobile chemical and biological labs, his nuclear arms documentation, and the mass graves of thousands slaughtered by his regime.

President Bush made the right decision to rid the world of Saddam's evil. It's a shame some here at home would rather ignore these facts in a weak attempt to bolster their political standing.

Congressman Terry Everett represents the 2nd Congressional District of Alabama in the U.S. House of Representatives.