This is from the November 2, 2003 program of Meet the Press.
Rumsfeld: We Never Said Iraq Had Nuclear Weapons and We’ll Just Keep Interrogating People Until We Find The WMD (Small – 6 Mb)
Tim Russert:
“Syria. Iran. North Korea. All harbor terrorists. We were told that Iraq was unique because they possessed Weapons Of Mass Destruction. What if that has proven not to be true?”
Donald Rumsfeld:
“It hasn’t proven not to be true. We’ve seen an interim report by David Kay, and uh it was a thoughtful report. There are some 1,300 Americans there working on the Weapons of Mass Destruction effort. He came back with an interim report that reported on the things he found thus far. It did not prove that there were (he stops) He did not come in a say “here are the weapons of mass destruction” nor did he come in and disprove the intelligence that we had had and that other countries had had before the war. Seems to me that the sensible thing to do is to let them continue their work and produce their final report and when they do, we’ll know.”
Tim Russert:
“But Mr. Secretary, you will acknowledge that there was an argument made by the Administration that Saddam Hussein possessed chemical and biological weapons and could have been well on his way to reconstituting his nuclear program.”
Donald Rumsfeld:
“Um. Hmmm.”
Tim Russert:
“There doesn’t appear to be significant amounts of evidence to document that presentation that was made by the administration.”
Donald Rumsfeld:
“This administration and the last administration and several other countries all agreed that they had chemical and biological weapons and that they had programs relating to nuclear weapons that they were reconstituting. Not that they had nuclear weapons. No one said that. It was believed then (stops) We know they did have them because they used chemical weapons against their own people. So it’s not like it was a surprise that those programs existed.”
“Furthermore, the debate in the United Nations wasn’t about whether or not Sadaam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons. The debate in the United Nations was about whether or not he was willing to declare what he had and everyone agreed that that declaration was a fraudalent declaration. Even those that voted against the resolution agreed with that. So it seems to me that the thing to do is to wait, let the Iraq survey group, David Kay and his team, continue their work. You’re not going to find things by accident in a country the size of California. The only way you’re going to find them is by capturing people who know about them and interrogate them and find out what they think they know as to where these weapons are and what the programs were.”