you write , in september 2002 vice president cheney , condoleezza rice , donald rumsfeld and other key officials announced that iraq had long-standing ties to al-qaeda and , by inference , was partly responsible for the 9/11 attacksin his january 2003 state of the union address president bush asserted that saddam was in possession of the material to produce 500 tons of sarin , mustard [ gas ] and vx nerve agent more than 38,000 liters of botulinum toxinand upwards of 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agentshe also stated that iraq had attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production and had sought significant quantities of uranium from africaa week later colin powell spoke before the un security council , reasserted the link between al-qeada and iraq , and presented satellite photos and illustrations that he said showed chemical weapons bunkers and mobile biological weapons factories .