Transcript
Sam Husseini: Do you know that Hussein Kamel said that there were no WMDs? Did you know that?
Colin Powell: What’s that?
SH: You cited Hussein Kamel in your UN testimony. Did you know that he said that there were no WMDs, did you know that at the time?
CP: I only knew what the intelligence community told me.
SH: But did you know that fact?
CP: Of course not!
SH: You didn’t know that he said that, even though it was reported?
CP: I -
SH: You didn’t know -
CP: I’ve answered your question.
SH: You didn’t know that he said there were no WMDs.
In his famous February 4, 2003 speech to the United Nations Security Council, General Colin Powell said:
… It took years for Iraq to finally admit that it had produced four tons of the deadly nerve agent, VX. A single drop of VX on the skin will kill in minutes. Four tons.
The admission only came out after inspectors collected documentation as a result of the defection of Hussein Kamal, Saddam Hussein’s late son-in-law. …
Sam Husseini tried to follow-up some initial questions (see video below) with Powell today, as he left his Face The Nationappearance in Washington, D.C. Husseini pointed out that the man Powell cited in his speech, Hussein Kamel, also had said that there were no more weapons of mass destruction.
This story was first broken, according to FAIR, by Newsweek, in late February of 2003 (dated for early March) — before the open launch of the Iraq war and after Powell’s speech.
When Husseini pressed to see of Powell was aware of this evidence, he adamantly asserted “Of course not!”
In pressing again for a direct confirmation that he was not aware of evidence contradicting public assertions about alleged-Iraqi WMD, Powell’s only response was “I’ve answered your question.”