Sept. 12: Before the U.N. General Assembly, Bush demanded that Iraq "immediately and unconditionally forswear, disclose, and remove or destroy all weapons of mass destruction." He detailed the specific types of WMD: "tens of thousands of liters of anthrax and other deadly biological agents for use with" various delivery systems. U.N. inspectors reported, Bush said, that Iraq "likely maintains stockpiles of VX, mustard and other chemical agents." The nuclear question remained up in the air, Bush told the skeptical international audience, but Saddam "employs capable nuclear scientists and technicians" and the country "retains physical infrastructure needed to build a nuclear weapon."

Oct. 7: Bush traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio, to outline the Iraqi threat. No longer were WMD hypothetical. "Iraq's weapons of mass destruction are controlled by a murderous tyrant," Bush declared. "Iraq could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to a terrorist group or individual terrorists" -- mustard gas, sarin gas, VX nerve gas, anything from its "massive stockpile of biological weapons" -- that would "allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints."

To many in the media and international community, however, the evidence behind those claims was still amiss.

Oct. 11: One day after the House of Representatives did the same by a vote of 296-133, the Senate voted 77-23, as CNN reported unflinchingly, "to authorize President Bush to attack Iraq if Saddam Hussein refuses to give up weapons of mass destruction as required by U.N. resolutions." Many members spoke openly about how the prospect of Saddam with nukes was a decisive factor.

Jan. 7, 2003: At a Pentagon briefing, Rumsfeld was asked if the U.S. had "current evidence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, or is it just a strong suspicion?" Rumsfeld responded, "There's no doubt in my mind but that they currently have chemical and biological weapons." Regarding nuclear weapons, he said, "We do not have evidence that they have nuclear weapons," though the United States did have "evidence that they have had a nuclear program that was robust and that they were very skilled in denial and deception."

Asked if there existed any current evidence behind these claims or if the claims were based on Iraq's possession of some of these weapons in the past, Rumsfeld said he didn't "think that if it were the latter the president would be saying what he's saying or the director of Central Intelligence would be saying what he's saying."

Jan. 23: Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations, Rumsfeld deputy Wolfowitz said "Time is running out" no fewer than four times.

Jan. 28: In his State of the Union address, Bush noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency reported in the 1990s that Saddam "had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, had a design for a nuclear weapon and was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb." Bush also repeated one highly disputed piece of intelligence regarding Iraq's nuclear weapons, saying that U.S. intelligence had reported that Saddam had "attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production." The administration had been making the claim for months, though IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei argued that Iraq's explanation that the tubes were for the manufacture of 81-mm rockets was credible.

"While it would be possible to modify such tubes for the manufacture of centrifuges, they are not directly suitable for it," the IAEA report stated. The president also noted that the "British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa," a reference to documents that the administration has since acknowledged were forged and should not have been cited.

Irrefutably, there were credible claims made about Saddam's WMD program, and it is entirely possible that there were myriad WMD scattered throughout the country, contrary to international law. Many, if not most, administration claims are entirely believable. What is fascinating, however, is to watch the evolution of the threat assessment, which often had a great deal to do with not only the venue but also the specific administration official making the case.

Feb. 5: Secretary of State Colin Powell's address to the United Nations did not offer startling new evidence of an Iraqi buildup.

March 16: On NBC's "Meet the Press," Cheney told Tim Russert that Saddam "has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons."

March 19: The president announced that the war had begun.

The next topic to shift, of course, was no longer which WMD Saddam had but rather where they were -- or if anything at all would ever be found.

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