A month before the Iraq war in 2003 the United States secretary of State, Colin Powell, gave a presentation to the UN security council in order to convince other members of the need to invade Iraq. It wax seeking a UN mandate for action as oppose to a Coalition of the willing.
It wanted to show other nations that more time was not required for inspections. From an American point of view the game had entered a new phase.
The arguments was that Iraq had large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons as well as nuclear ambitions. It was also designed to prove the link between al-Qaeda and the Iraqi regime.
The attached URL is the presentation Colin Powell gave. It was the best evidence that the US had and based on intelligence.
The minutes of the meeting can be found here:
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003/sc7658.doc.htm
