Report: Saddam Not in Pursuit of Weapons

And the hits just keep coming....

Report: Saddam Not in Pursuit of Weapons

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP)--Undercutting the Bush's administration's rationale for invading Iraq, the final report of the chief U.S. arms inspector concludes that Saddam Hussein did not vigorously pursue a program to develop weapons of mass destruction after international inspectors left Baghdad in 1998, according to lawmakers and others briefed on the report.

In drafts, weapons hunter Charles Duelfer concluded that Saddam's Iraq had no stockpiles of the banned weapons but said he found signs of idle programs that Saddam could have revived if international attention had waned.

``It appears that he did not vigorously pursue those programs after the inspectors left,'' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in advance of the report's release.

Full article at www.ajc.com...

[edit on 10/6/2004 by sandge]

Wow the silence from the "Of course Saddam had WMD" group is deafening.

Here's the story from CBS.

www.cbsnews.com...

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday the report will conclude "that Saddam Hussein had the intent and the capability, that he was pursuing an aggressive strategy to bring down the sanctions, the international sanctions, imposed by the United Nations, through illegal financing procurement schemes."

How evil. The intent and the capability.

The report will continue to show that he was a gathering threat that needed to be taken seriously, that it was a matter of time before he was going to begin pursuing those weapons of mass destruction," McClellan said.

But prior to the war, the Bush administration did not argue that Iraq was on the verge of pursuing illegal weapons. Officials insisted he already had them.

Compare that to the words of Vice President Dick Cheney, in a speech on Aug. 26, 2002, 6 1/2 months before the invasion:

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction," he said. "There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies and against us."

No doubt, Dick? No doubt?

What U.S. forces found:


A single artillery shell filled with two chemicals that, when mixed while the shell was in flight, would have created sarin. The shell was from Saddam's pre-1991 stockpile.


Another old artillery shell, also rigged as a bomb and found in May, showed signs it once contained mustard agent.


Two small rocket warheads, turned over to Polish troops by an informer, that showed signs they once were filled with sarin.


Centrifuge parts buried in a former nuclear scientist's garden in Baghdad. These were part of Saddam's pre-1991 nuclear program, which was dismantled after the 1991 Gulf War. The scientist also had centrifuge design documents.


A vial of live botulinum toxin, which can be used as a biological weapon, in another scientist's refrigerator. The scientist said it had been there since 1993.


Evidence of advanced design work on a liquid-propellant missile with ranges of up to 620 miles. Since the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq had been prohibited from having missiles with ranges longer than 93 miles.

6 items. 1040 dead U.S. soldiers. Thousands of dead Iraqis.

It should add up to impeachment, but that won't happen, right?