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Current Events » in reply to If all you want to cherry-pick is the SOTU then yes

re: If all you want to cherry-pick is the SOTU then yes

If the carefully-crafted State of the Union address can't be quoted as representing the official policies of a president's administration, I'm not sure what else we can use. Feel free to "cherry pick" other statements from it if you want.

There was a statement from intelligence sources that had Iraq been able to obtain from elsewhere a supply of refined weapons-grade uranium or plutonium--an important caveat--it would take them only a few months to construct a viable warhead. I see nothing inherently flawed in that statement, and it is this statement that was quoted by a number of officials and news articles.

A typical quotation of the finding can be seen in this September 2002 article:

The segment on nuclear weapons cites a report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies which appeared in the media Monday, saying Iraq could "probably" build a nuclear warhead within months if it procured plutonium or enriched uranium from another country.

The report also concluded Iraq did not currently have a nuclear weapons capability, and probably lacked the systems needed to deliver chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.

The nuclear weapons section included unsubstantiated claims that Iraq has the technical expertise to make nuclear weapons, and even that "Saddam Hussein has repeatedly met with his nuclear scientists over the past two years, signaling his continued interest in developing his nuclear program."

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