Help clarify this issue please

Senator Graham reportedly stated that Saddam kicked the inspectors out and would not allow them back in just prior to the invasion. My memory is that they were told to leave by Bush just prior to the invasion. I have written Graham this. However I decided to verify what I wrote but can not seem to find that information. Help would be much appreciated.

I've heard Randi Rhodes discussing this. She has a timeline on the events prior to the invasion. Go to <www.therandirhodesshow.com>.

The inspectors were told to leave, but not by Saddam. I remember discussing with coworkers how he was bending over backwards to do what bush demanded (full accounting, inspectors, etc.) in an apparent attempt to avoid any war.

Graham is either stupid, lazy, a sucker, or an outright liar.

I don't know what kind of stupid game Graham is playing.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/21/144258

So long as weapons inspectors weren't in Iraq, sanctions were never going to be lifted. Furthermore, the issue of disarmament would never be fully addressed. And there were people out there talking about a resurgence in Iraqi W.M.D. capability that Iraq had, since the inspectors had left, to become a threat worthy of war. And by the summer of 2002, the fall of 2002, we were a nation clearly on the path towards war.

And I had gone to Congress, tried to get the Senate's Select Intelligence Committee, get the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to have genuine hearings about Iraq, where the facts could be put forth. They refused to do so. Now, in September, Bush is going to meet with Blair in Crawford, Texas, and have this little war conference. And they're going to basically say it's time to take on Saddam. The only way that you could undo this, to back this up, was to get inspectors back in. But the Iraqis were putting so many conditions on the return of inspectors that it was just a debate that wasn't going to happen.

I decided to intervene as a private citizen. And I first went to South Africa, where I met with Tariq Aziz and said, “This is what has to happen. I got to get into Iraq. You've got to give me a forum. Turn on the TVs. I'm going to speak to your National Assembly. You will not edit my words. You will not know what I'm saying. You've just got to trust me on this one. I'm going to confront you, and I’m gonna confront the world. And then I'll have meetings, and we need to get the inspectors back in.” At first he said, “No, you're crazy. It’s not going to happen.” After two days of discussion, he said, “Okay, you get to go to Baghdad.”

I went to Baghdad. I spoke before the Iraqi National Assembly. People have accused me of treason for speaking before this body. But if you listen to the words I said, I hold the Iraqis accountable for every crime they ever committed. I didn't give them a clean bill of health, and I warned them. I said, “Your nation is about to be invaded. Your nation is about to be destroyed. And you are looking the certainty of disaster in the face if you don't let inspectors back in without precondition.” Having broadcast that, the Iraqi government now had to deal with me. And that was the strategy.

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