It was very clear that Saddam's Iraq was not cooperating with weapons inspectors prior to the invasion.


An example of compliance would be South Africa's abandonment of its nuclear program in the mid-1990's to U.N. inspectors: Full disclosure of all materials and documents.

Another example of U.N. inspection compliance is Libya's abandonment of its nuclear program (I might add, a direct result of the willingness of the U.S. to use force in Iraq against possible WMD development in a rogue nation.) Once again, full disclosure.

Saddam never at any point cooperated with U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq. That's why there were 10 U.N. resolutions calling directly for Iraq to disarm.

And that was the most clearly stated reason by G.W. Bush for invasion of Iraq, consistently, in his pre-war speeches to the nation, as I've quoted abundantly.

www.whitehouse.gov

Saying that we needed to "give inspections a chance to work" is not an honest argument.

Saddam had from 1991-1998 to cooperate with U.N. inspectors, and he didn't.
At which point he threw inspectors out of his country and we don't know what he did from 1998-2002. Every country doing intelligence on Iraq believed he had WMD's until the end of the Iraq war in May 2003.
And while WMD weapons have not been found, it cannot be disproven that they exist and are hidden.

Again, David Kay said in his report that if not for U.S. invasion, Iraq in a continuing path of increased de-stabilization, would have become a global arms bazaar for nuclear technology on sale to the highest bidder.

Prevented only by U.S. invasion.

And while WMD's were not found, David Kay also stressed in his report to the Senate that Saddam's Iraq was in unquestionable material breach of the U.N.'s ban on WMD's in Iraq. Weapons programs were in development, waiting for U.N. sanctions to be lifted, for WMD's to go into production as soon as U.N. sanctions would be lifted from Iraq.

I also hasten to add that if not for U.S. invasion of Iraq,
Hans Blix could have continued for another 12 years, or
until hell froze over, and not found what David Kay found
after the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
It is precisely because of U.S. invasion that Iraq's
material breach with WMD development was discovered. Not
because of U.N. inspectors, and not in another 10 months
or 10 years of U.N. inspections.

This is a myth, that "U.N. inspectors were not given the
chance to do their job". They had 12 years, off and on.

And after 12 years, the situation called out for an
alternative solution.

Which Bush pressed for and enacted.