10 years since 9/11

In 9 days it will be the 10 year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. I will continue to highlight those events of 2001.





September 8, 2002

Appearing on CNN, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice charges that "There have been shipments of high-quality aluminum tubes that are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs, centrifuge programs.... The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons, but we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."



Vice President Dick Cheney says on NBC's "Meet the Press": "We do know, with absolute certainty, that he [Saddam Hussein] is using his procurement system to acquire the equipment [aluminum tubes] he needs in order to enrich uranium to build a nuclear weapon."







September 12, 2002

In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, President Bush says: "Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons . . . Iraq has made several attempts to buy high-strength aluminum tubes used to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon," and announces that the US "will work with the UN Security Council."







September 19, 2002

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri tells the U.N.: "I hereby declare before you that Iraq is totally clear of all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons."



The White House delivers a draft of a strongly worded resolution to Congress authorizing the President to use "all appropriate means" against Iraq. The 20-paragraph draft includes provisions that would allow Bush to ignore the U.N. and "use all means that he determines to be appropriate, including force, in order to enforce" the U.N.'s Security Council resolutions, "defend the national security interests of the United States against the threat posed by Iraq, and restore international peace and security in the region."





October 11, 2002

Congress passes a joint resolution authorizing President Bush to use military force against Iraq.

November 15, 2002

Congress approves legislation creating an independent commission to "examine and report on the facts and causes relating to the September 11th terrorist attacks" and "make a full and complete accounting of the circumstances surrounding the attacks." President Bush signs it into law November 27, 2002.





November 18, 2002

A team of 26 U.N. weapons inspectors arrives in Baghdad.





November 25, 2002

Eighteen international arms monitors, including 12 inspectors from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and 8 from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, arrive in Baghdad.