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'No WMD in Iraq', source claims

Update: The hunt for weapons of mass destruction yields - nothing (Guardian 09/25)

BBC -Wednesday, 24 September, 2003

No weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq by the group tasked with looking for them, according to a Bush administration source who has spoken to the BBC.

The source told the presenter of BBC television's Daily Politics show, Andrew Neil, this was the conclusion of the Iraq Survey Group's interim report, which the source said was due to be published next month.

Mr Neil said the draft report says it was highly unlikely that weapons of mass destruction (WMD) were shipped out of the country to places like Syria before the US-led war on Iraq.

It will also claim that Saddam Hussein mounted a huge programme to deceive and hinder the work of UN weapons inspectors, he said.

Mr Neil said, according to the source, the report will say its inspectors have not even unearthed "minute amounts of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons material".

They have also not uncovered any laboratories involved in deploying WMD and no delivery systems for the weapons.

But, Mr Neil added, the report would publish computer programmes, files, pictures and paperwork which it says shows that Saddam Hussein's regime was attempting to develop a WMD programme.

The hunt for weapons of mass destruction yields - nothing

The Guardian -Thursday September 25, 2003

An intensive six-month search of Iraq for weapons of mass destruction has failed to find a single trace of an illegal arsenal, according to accounts of a report circulated in Washington and London.

A draft of the report, compiled by the CIA-led 1,400-strong Iraq Survey Group (ISG), has been sent to the White House, the Pentagon and Downing Street, a US intelligence source said, and will contain no evidence of Iraqi stockpiles of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.

The Failure to Find Iraqi Weapons

NY Times -Friday 26 September 2003

...Americans and others in the world are glad that Mr. Hussein has been removed from power. If Iraq can be turned into a freer and happier country in coming years, it could become a focal point for the evolution of a more peaceful and democratic Middle East. But it was the fear of weapons of mass destruction placed in the hands of enemy terrorists that made doing something about Iraq seem urgent. If it had seemed unlikely that Mr. Hussein had them, we doubt that Congress or the American people would have endorsed the war.

This is clearly an uncomfortable question for the Bush administration. Yesterday, Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Times editors. Asked whether Americans would have supported this war if weapons of mass destruction had not been at issue, Mr. Powell said the question was too hypothetical to answer. Asked if he, personally, would have supported it, he smiled, thrust his hand out and said, "It was good to meet you."

1. "BBC" - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3135932.stm
2. "The Guardian" - http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1049228,00.html
3. "NY Times" - http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/26/opinion/26FRI1.html

printed from GlobalFreePress, BBC Source: 'No WMD in Iraq' on 2004-11-27 20:38:30