THE PRESIDENT: Yes. I did. The world is safer without Saddam Hussein in power.
Q Is it?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Absolutely. Saddam Hussein -- you know, we made the decision on a lot of factors. One factor, of course, is that the world thought he had weapons of mass destruction -- not just the United States, but the entire world. I went to the United Nations. The United Nations unanimously passed a resolution that said to Saddam Hussein: disarm or face serious consequences. Once again, he defied the world.
But we also made the case that Saddam Hussein had terrorist ties. Abu Nidal was in Iraq. Zarqawi, the man who's inflicting so much murder and chaos on innocent Iraqis, was in Iraq. Saddam Hussein was an enemy of the United States -- enemy of a lot of countries. And there's no doubt in my mind that we're safer as a result of him not being in power. And there's no doubt in my mind that a democratic Iraq will be a part of a change in the broader Middle East that will lay the foundations for peace.
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