Bush Administration pleads case for Iraq war
before Congress

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, appearing before Congress to ask for authorization to invade Iraq, admitted that no link to Al Qaida exists and that Saddam poses no appreciable threat to the US.

"Our best guess, from our own intelligence and the UN inspection results, is that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction, and that the US will be almost universally condemned for taking this action," Rumsfeld told the Congress.

"We expect that most Iraqis will welcome the fall of Saddam at first, after which a war of resistance will begin, with growing support from the Iraqi people the longer the occupation continues."

Rumsfeld estimated that up to 150,000 US forces would be needed in Iraq for at least 2 to 4 years, and possibly much longer, saying that no one really knows, because no exit strategy exists and little planning has been done on post-invasion details.

"The initial invasion will cost close to 100 billion dollars," Rumsfeld told the Congress, "with a monthly cost of close to 4 billion dollars for the foreseeable future," none of which will be paid for by the profits Halliburton and others will make rebuilding Iraq and running their oil industry.

Congress is expected to approve the Bush Administration's request because of the broad consensus that Saddam Hussein is evil and that America, after the tragedy of 9/11, must become the policeman of the world.