The president put it bluntly. "The hard fact is that so long as Saddam remains in power,

he threatens the well-being of his people, the peace of his region, the security of the

world," he said. "The credible threat to use force, and when necessary the actual use of

force, is the surest way to contain Saddam's weapons of mass destruction program

(and) curtail his aggression."

The president who spoke those words was Bill Clinton, in 1998.