Charles Duelfer Quotes (16 Quotes)

It's the end of a week of inspections that had been planned, and (Ritter) will be returning back to his home office in New York, ... It is not intended to send a signal. It is not intended to mean anything other than the period of time of this inspection is over and he is coming home.

I also have insisted that the report include as much basic data as reasonable and that it be unclassified, since the tragedy that has been Iraq has exacted such a huge cost for so many for so long.

What they do is support the conclusion the regime had the intention of building or rebuilding weapons of mass destruction.

This is a very interesting element of the British presentation. It was on the basis of that kind of information we had from defectors as far back as 1997 that we conducted some of our most controversial inspections.

Other people on the team had other obligations, so logistically it would have been difficult to keep them there much longer.

There is evidence they have a lot of desire to connect themselves with either or both the intellectual capital of the previous regime with respect to weapons of mass destruction and quite conceivably materials, ... That is a very strong concern, and it's something that fuels a lot our investigation at the moment.

We destroyed a lot of chemical weapons. They had a facility that was going night and day, like some weird James Bond movie.

We need to investigate whether there are more where that came from, wherever that is, and we need to make certain that they're not finding their way into anti-coalition or terrorist hands.

I'm honored that director Tenet has asked me to tackle this challenging assignment. I'm approaching it with an open mind and am absolutely committed to following the evidence wherever it takes us.

No one has a precise answer. The International Atomic Energy Agency dismantled 40 nuclear-research facilities before the U. N. inspectors left Iraq, including three uranium-enrichment sites. Prior to the inspections, Saddam's stealthiness had been so effective that none of the 40 were known to the outside world. Clearly, Iraq was on its way to becoming a nuclear power. Without ground inspections, those who track Iraq's nuclear development have had to rely on interviews with recent defectors and surveys of suppliers Baghdad has contacted seeking parts. Both suggest that Iraq's nuclear program is back in full swing. Iraq's known nuclear scientists are gravitating to the country's five nuclear research sites, ... That doesn't appear to be coincidental.

Certainly Iraq, even before oil-for-food and sanctions, conducted business by buying influence.

What they do is support the conclusion in the report, which we made in the last couple of years, that the regime had the intention of building and rebuilding weapons of mass destruction, when circumstances permitted.

Some uncertainties remain and some information will continue to emerge about the WMD programs of the former Regime. Reports cited in the Comprehensive Report concerning the possible movement of WMD or WMD materials from Iraq prior to the war remain unresolved.

Given that kind of background, I would be a little bit surprised if it was Saddam Hussein who directed this, ... But, on the other hand, I would also be somewhat surprised if there were no connection at all between Saddam and al Qaeda.

He is of course of great interest because if one person knows the real story it's him,

Many perceive a grave risk in speaking with us. On one hand, there is a fear of prosecution or arrest. On the other, there is a fear that former regime supporters will exact retribution. This is, in part, why we do not yet fully understand the central issue of regime intentions,