On February 5, 2003, the Secretary of State of the United States

Colin Powell Colin Luther Powell ( ; – ) was an Americans, American diplomat, and army officer who was the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African-American to hold the office. He was the 15th National Security ...

gave a PowerPoint presentation to the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

. He explained the

rationale for the Iraq War There are various Explanation, rationales that have been used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Iraq War, and subsequent hostilities. The Presidency of George W. Bush, George W. Bush administration began actively pressing for military ...

which would start on March 20, 2003 with the

invasion of Iraq An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives ...

. The decision to invade Iraq had already been made prior to the presentation being given. The content of the presentation was based on unreliable evidence. Powell was criticized for

lying A lie is an assertion that is believed to be false, typically used with the purpose of deception, deceiving or misleading someone. The practice of communicating lies is called lying. A person who communicates a lie may be termed a liar. Lies ...

, while the U.S. saw its credibility heavily damaged.

Selection and preparation

On February 5, 2003, Powell appeared before the UN to prove the urgency to engage a war with Iraq. In 2016, Powell would say, " the time I gave the speech on Feb. 5, the president had already made this decision for military action." Powell was selected to deliver the speech based on his credibility, and he stated in 2016 that it had been written by the vice president's office:

The speech supposedly had been prepared in the White House in the
NSC NSC may refer to: Banking and investment * National Sort Code, an Irish bank code * Nomura Securities Co, an investment bank Computing * National Software Centre, an Irish organization * National Supercomputer Centre in Sweden * NetShow Channe ...
ational Security Council But when we were given what had been prepared, it was totally inadequate, and we couldn't track anything in it. When I asked
Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza "Condi" Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist serving since 2020 as the 8th director of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served ...
, the national security advisor, where did this come from, it turns out the vice president's office had written it.

CIA analyst Nada Bakos has stated that the speech's language differed from what the CIA prepared for Powell and from the copies the CIA received in advance of the presentation.

Content

Powell claimed that Iraq harbored a terrorist network headed by

al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

operative

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (; , "Father of Musab, of Zarqa"; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel Nazal al-Khalayleh (), was a Jordanian militant jihadist who ran a training camp in Afghanistan. He became known after going to Iraq a ...

(in a small region controlled by Ansar al-Islam). He also claimed that Iraqis visited

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

in Afghanistan and provided training to al-Qaeda members, although thousands of

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

s from many countries did the same. US intelligence agencies have found no evidence of any substantive collaboration between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda.

Media

File:Iraq-030205-17300pf-shortmirage.webmsd.webm File:Iraq-030205-17300pf-nerve-gas.webmsd.webm File:Iraq-030205-17300pf-warhead.webmsd.webm File:Iraq-030205-17300pf-mod-vehc.webmsd.webm

Slides

File:IRAQ Failing to Disarm slide 1.svg, Iraq Failing To Disarm File:IRAQ Failing to Disarm slide 2.svg, Iraq Is Hiding Evidence File:IRAQ Failing to Disarm slide 3.svg, Iraq Is Muzzling Its Scientists File:IRAQ Failing to Disarm slide 4.svg, Iraq Is Hiding Dangerous Weapons File:IRAQ Failing to Disarm slide 5.svg, Iraq Still Seeks Nuclear Weapons File:IRAQ Failing to Disarm slide 6.svg, Iraq Is Harboring Terrorists, Including Al Qaida File:IRAQ Failing to Disarm slide 7.svg, Iraq Has Refused To Disarm Peacefully

Reactions

Iraqi reaction

Ansar al Islam invited 20 journalists to a compound that should have been a 'poison factory'.

Others

Although the presentation failed to change the fundamental position of the Security Council, including France, Russia, China, and Germany, Powell succeeded in hardening the overall tone of the United Nations towards Iraq. While Colin Powell's statement to the UN may have been accepted as proof by many in the US, this was not the case in Europe. Powell himself stated later: "I, of course, regret the U.N. speech that I gave, which became the prominent presentation of our case. But we thought it was correct at the time. The President thought it was correct. Congress thought it was correct." "Of course I regret that a lot of it turned out be wrong," he said. Powell's Chief of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson later said that he had inadvertently participated in a hoax on the American people in preparing Powell's erroneous testimony before the United Nations Security Council.

Analysis

David Zarefsky noted that the speech mainly relied on the

argument from ignorance Argument from ignorance (), or appeal to ignorance, is an informal fallacy where something is claimed to be true or false because of a lack of evidence to the contrary. The fallacy is committed when one asserts that a proposition is true because ...

. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' dubbed the speech a decisive moment in undermining the credibility of the United States. ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazi ...

'' considered the speech one of the most indelible public moments of the Bush administration.

FAIR A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Fairs showcase a wide range of go ...

analyzed the media coverage of the week before and the week after the presentation and urged the media to broaden their coverage.

Further developments

In a 2005 interview, Powell stated that he did not lie because he did not know the information was false.

References

External links

From 2003: Colin Powell Addresses United Nations Security Council On Iraq
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NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

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Briefing security council, us secretary of state powell presents evidence of iraq's failure to disarm
''United Nations'' {{George W. Bush Colin Powell 2003 controversies in the United States 2003 in international relations 2003 in New York City 2003 speeches 2003 in the United Nations 2000s in Manhattan February 2003 in the United States Causes and prelude of the Iraq War Propaganda in the Iraq War United Nations Security Council United Nations and the Iraq War George W. Bush administration controversies Saddam–al-Qaeda conspiracy theory Iraq–United States relations Iraq and the United Nations United States and the United Nations