Charles Duelfer, chief US weapons inspector, speaks at the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington. Picture / Reuters
WMD report sinks Bush's main rationale for war
07.10.2004
- 10.45am
Virtually destroying the Bush administration's main rationale for war against Iraq, the chief US weapons inspector has declared that Saddam Hussein had neither weapons of mass destruction nor programmes to manufacture them at short notice when the US and its allies invaded in March 2003.
In what may be the definitive account of Saddam's pre-war weapons capabilities, Charles Duelfer told the Senate Armed Services Committee he did not believe "militarily significant" WMD were hidden in Iraq.
He also said that Iraq's nuclear programme was nothing compared to what it had been in 1991, at the time of the previous invasion by the US-led forces, and amounted to less even than in 1998, when the United Nations weapons inspectors were withdrawn.
Tony Blair sought to minimise the damning conclusion of the report, saying: "This case is a far more complicated situation than many people thought.
"Just as I accept that the evidence now is that there were no stockpiles of actual weapons ready to be deployed, others can be honest and accept that the report also shows that sanctions were not working.
"On the contrary, Saddam Hussein was doing the best to get around those sanctions, with every intention of developing those programmes of weapons of mass destruction, that he was retaining teams of scientists and teams to do so, and there were multiple breaches of the United Nations resolutions, which were the legal justification for the conflict."
The report states that the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) "has not found evidence that Saddam Hussein possessed WMD in 2003", but left open the possibility that some weapons existed in Iraq, "although not of a militarily significant capability".
Before the invasion, US Vice-President Dick Cheney even alleged that the Iraqi dictator was "reconstituting" nuclear weapons. But Mr Duelfer dismissed that thesis.
Despite Saddam's attempt to retain some parts of the programme after 1991, "during the following 12 years, Iraq's ability to produce a weapon decayed".
Mr Duelfer was introducing the ISG's 1,000-plus page report, based on visits to suspect sites, the examination of thousands of pages of documents and interviews with former Iraqi officials involved in weapons programmes, including Saddam himself.
Moreover, it found no evidence that Saddam had secretly transferred weapons or components to Syria, as some US officials have suggested.
Saddam is said to have told interrogators that his previous possession and use of chemical and biological weapons was a key reason why he stayed in power. WMD had enabled him to halt Iranian offensives during the 1980-1988 Iran/Iraq war, and had deterred the US and its allies from marching on Baghdad after liberating Kuwait in 1991.
Mr Duelfer did provide some comfort for Mr Bush, most notably when he explained how only timely Allied action this year had prevented chemical weapons experts from Saddam's regime from linking up with insurgents in Iraq.
Nonetheless, he warned the Senate committee, the problem pointed to the risk that lethal skills developed by Iraqi scientists while Saddam was in power "could be transferred to other hands".
With Saddam's once-vaunted weapons proven to be a fiction, and increasing doubts about possible ties between his regime and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda, the risk of proliferation of WMD expertise has become the White House's main argument in defence of the invasion.
After 11 September 2001, Mr Bush said yesterday, the US had to go after sources of weapons for terrorist groups. "We had to take a hard look at every place where terrorists might get those weapons," he said.
"One regime stood out - the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein."
According to US officials, ISG investigators found that Iraq had had plans for missiles with ranges of up to 1,000km, far greater than the 150km maximum imposed by the UN.
But Mr Duelfer said that "while Saddam wanted a long-range missile, little work had been done on warheads".
Saddam had apparently stopped development because further components could only be obtained once UN sanctions were lifted.
Saddam had been doing his best to wriggle free of sanctions through illegal financial and procurement schemes, the report states. Indeed, it lists foreign companies that violated the UN sanctions, many of them reportedly coming from the US, as well as France, Russia, China and Poland.
With hundreds of translators in Qatar still going through Saddam regime documents, this may not be the last report on the weapons issue. But Mr Duelfer's broad conclusions are unlikely to be affected, officials acknowledge.
- By RUPERT CORNWELL in WASHINGTON, BEN RUSSELL in KHARTOUM and ANNE PENKETH in LONDON from the INDEPENDENT
Iraq's WMD: Key Findings [PDF]
Herald Feature: Iraq
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