Oklahoma House of Representatives
Mike W. Ray, Media Division Director
May 30, 2003

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Another $2 million has been secured for the new
veterans' center in Lawton, which should enable the facility to open by
October, state Rep. Ron Kirby announced Friday.
The latest appropriation from the Legislature raised the state
funds allocated this month to the center to $3.55 million. The
House/Senate General Conference Committee on Appropriations authorized
$1.55 million in "new" money for the center earlier this month.
The supplemental appropriation Friday "ensures they will have
enough money to open on time" later this year, Kirby said.
The additional $2 million was authorized in Senate Bill 50, an
appropriation measure for the state Department of Veterans Affairs, the
Lawton Democrat related.
The Senate and the House both endorsed the legislation without
dissent; it passed the Senate 43-0 and the House 97-0. Besides Kirby,
others who supported the proposal were Reps. Abe Deutschendorf,
D-Lawton; Don Armes, R-Faxon; Jari Askins, D-Duncan; David Braddock,
D-Altus; Ray McCarter, D-Marlow; Joe Dorman, D-Rush Springs; and Ron
Langmacher, D-Carnegie.
McCarter is chairman of the House Committee on Veterans and
Military Affairs, and Armes, Dorman and Kirby are members of that panel.
"We thought the announcement May 13 about the $1.55 million was
premature, because we were still negotiating to come up with more money
this year," Kirby said Friday. "Our thanks to all the members of the
House who supported us in this worthwhile effort."
House Speaker Larry E. Adair and Rep. Bill Mitchell, chairman of
the House Committee on Appropriations and Budget, credited Kirby for his
persistence in seeking additional operating funds for the center.
Work on the $38 million, 200-bed center is well under way.
Administrator Dwain Webb said recently the first four units are
complete.
Construction of the veterans' center cost $32 million and equipment
another $3 million, Webb said. The remainder is administrative fees and
incidental expenses, he indicated.
The Lawton facility -- the state's seventh veterans' center -- is
situated on 80 acres off Gore Boulevard a mile east of the former
Montego Bay motel. Webb said the center will have 312 employees.
Dedication of the veterans' center is scheduled for Sept. 6, Webb
said, and the opening date "will be determined by the Legislature."
-30-

The official Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign Bush website is up and running.
The site does not offer too many bells and whistles at the moment
(you can only contribute to the campaign or volunteer), but the
Bush administration's amazing transformation of the official White House
website makes me believe that the website's functionality will be much
improved in the very near future.

Speaking of the Bush/Cheney campaign, the following fundraisers have been planned:

-Washington, D.C. (June 17, 2003)
-Greensboro, Ga. (June 20, 2003)
-New York City (June 23, 2003)
-San Francisco (June 27, 2003)
-Los Angeles (June 27, 2003)
-Miami (June 30, 2003)
-Tampa (June 30, 2003)

A reminder: Republican National Convention Begins, New York City
(August 30, 2004); Election Day (November 2, 2004).

Saturday, May 31, 2003 10:27 AM
Dates of the lies - Weapons of Mass Destruction: Who Said What When

May 29, 2003
Weapons of Mass Destruction: Who Said What When

CounterPunch Wire

Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.
Dick Cheney August 26, 2002

Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons.
George W. Bush September 12, 2002

If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world.
Ari Fleischer December 2, 2002

We know for a fact that there are weapons there.
Ari Fleischer January 9, 2003

Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent.
George W. Bush January 28, 2003

We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more.
Colin Powell February 5, 2003

We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have.
George Bush February 8, 2003

So has the strategic decision been made to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction by the leadership in Baghdad? I think our judgment has to be clearly not.
Colin Powell March 8, 2003

Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.
George Bush March 17, 2003

Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly . . . all this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes.
Ari Fleisher March 21, 2003

There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. As this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them.
Gen. Tommy Franks March 22, 2003

I have no doubt we're going to find big stores of weapons of mass destruction.
Kenneth Adelman, Defense Policy Board , March 23, 2003

One of our top objectives is to find and destroy the WMD. There are a number of sites.
Pentagon Spokeswoman Victoria Clark March 22, 2003

We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad.
Donald Rumsfeld March 30, 2003

Obviously the administration intends to publicize all the weapons of mass destruction U.S. forces find -- and there will be plenty.
Neocon scholar Robert Kagan April 9, 2003

I think you have always heard, and you continue to hear from officials, a measure of high confidence that, indeed, the weapons of mass destruction will be found.
Ari Fleischer April 10, 2003

We are learning more as we interrogate or have discussions with Iraqi scientists and people within the Iraqi structure, that perhaps he destroyed some, perhaps he dispersed some. And so we will find them.
George Bush April 24, 2003

There are people who in large measure have information that we need . . . so that we can track down the weapons of mass destruction in that country.
Donald Rumsfeld April 25, 2003

We'll find them. It'll be a matter of time to do so.
George Bush May 3, 2003

I am confident that we will find evidence that makes it clear he had weapons of mass destruction.
Colin Powell May 4, 2003

I never believed that we'd just tumble over weapons of mass destruction in that country.
Donald Rumsfeld May 4, 2003

I'm not surprised if we begin to uncover the weapons program of Saddam Hussein -- because he had a weapons program.
George W. Bush May 6, 2003

U.S. officials never expected that "we were going to open garages and find" weapons of mass destruction.
Condoleeza Rice May 12, 2003

I just don't know whether it was all destroyed years ago -- I mean, there's no question that there were chemical weapons years ago -- whether they were destroyed right before the war, (or) whether they're still hidden.
Maj. Gen. David Petraeus,
Commander 101st Airborne May 13, 2003

Before the war, there's no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical. I expected them to be found. I still expect them to be found.
Gen. Michael Hagee,
Commandant of the Marine Corps May 21, 2003

Given time, given the number of prisoners now that we're interrogating, I'm confident that we're going to find weapons of mass destruction.
Gen. Richard Myers,
Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff May 26, 2003

They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer.
Donald Rumsfeld May 27, 2003

For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction (as justification for invading Iraq) because it was the one reason everyone could agree on.
Paul Wolfowitz May 28, 2003

Link to Counterpunch.org
______________________________________

Have a great day --
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to
worry about answers."
Thomas Pynchon

Richard James, McDonald

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