U.S. President George W. Bush uses false claim to take nation to edge of war in State of the Union Address 20 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Jan 28 2003)

2000s, U.S. Presidents


Video: 'State Of The Union Address 2003' ("the Sixteen Words" at 49:47)

(Tuesday, January 28, 2003, 9:01 p.m. EST; during the Global War on Terrorism) — U.S. President George W. Bush, girding the nation for war with Iraq, said in his 2003 State of the Union Address tonight that Saddam Hussein had shown “utter contempt” for the world community and had to be held to account.

“The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa,” said Bush in a single sentence that is now known as “the Sixteen Words.”

The administration later conceded that evidence in support of the claim was inconclusive and stated, “These sixteen words should never have been included.” The administration attributed the error to the CIA.

In mid-2003, the U.S. government declassified the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, which contained a dissenting opinion published by the U.S. Department of State stating that the intelligence connecting Niger to Saddam Hussein was “highly suspect,” primarily because State Department’s intelligence agency analysts did not believe that Niger would be likely to engage in such a transaction due to a French consortium which maintained close control over the Nigerien uranium industry.

According to The Washington Post, when occupying troops found no evidence of a current nuclear program, the statement and how it came to be in the speech became a focus for critics in Washington and foreign capitals to press the case that the White House manipulated facts to take the United States to war.

The Post reported, “Dozens of interviews with current and former intelligence officials and policymakers in the United States, Britain, France, and Italy show that the Bush administration disregarded key information available at the time showing that the Iraq-Niger claim was highly questionable.”

With the release of the 2002 NIE report, the Bush administration was criticized for including the statement in the State of the Union despite CIA and State Department reports questioning its veracity.