This Reuters story cites a Vanity Fair interview with Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz:
Wolfowitz, seen as one of the most hawkish figures in the Bush administration's policy on Iraq, said President Saddam Hussein's alleged cache of chemical, biological and possibly nuclear weapons was merely one of several reasons behind the decision to go to war."For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction, because it was the one reason everyone could agree on," Wolfowitz was quoted as saying in Vanity Fair magazine's July issue. ...
Wolfowitz said another reason for the invasion had been "almost unnoticed but huge" -- namely that the ousting of Saddam would allow the United States to remove its troops from Saudi Arabia, where their presence had long been a major al Qaeda grievance.
"Just lifting that burden from the Saudis is itself going to open the door" to a more peaceful Middle East, Wolfowitz was quoted as saying.
My father, who serves as my conscience on the right, says there was more to Wolfowitz's statemenr, specifically a "but" clause that reiterated the adminstration's belief that the weapons did in fact exist. I can't find the full statement anywhere. When I do, I'll amend this article. I've already pulled the link and quote from a Helen Thomas column to the more complete Reuters given above.