CatoCooper13
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Inspectors fail to find WMDs
AFP - Saddam Hussein's elusive weapons of mass destruction have yet to be found, the man leading the US search told the US Congress, as the commander of US forces in Iraq said troops are facing an increasingly deadly foe.
The alleged existence of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons that posed an imminent danger to the western world was one of the main reasons for the US-led war that toppled the Iraqi leader.
However David Kay, the head of the US team of 1,200 experts scouring Iraq for WMD, has found no such weapons.
"We have not found at this point actual weapons," Kay told reporters after giving closed door briefings to the Senate and House of Representatives intelligence committees on the work of the Iraq Survey Group.
Neither was his team able to confirm pre-war intelligence stating that Iraqi military units were prepared to use chemical warfare agents against US forces.
In a report to the committees that was released in declassified form, Kay's team found that Iraq had little or no capacity to produce chemical warfare agents before the war because of damage inflicted by US air strikes and years of sanctions.
Kay insisted the findings did not mean the United States had concluded there were no weapons. "My advice to everyone is still don't be surprised by surprises in Iraq," he said.
It would take between six and nine more months to give a firm indication of the state of the Iraqi weapons program, he said.
The search had already cost $US300 million ($A439 million) and the administration plans to ask for $US600 million ($A878 million) more, the New York Times reported.
Kay's team did find that Saddam had not given up his goal to acquire weapons of mass destruction, and that the Iraqis were well advanced in developing missiles with ranges at least up to 1,000 kilometres, well in excess of the 150 kilometre range allowed under UN sanctions.
Asked about Kay's remarks, a senior White House official who declined to be named replied: "Keep in mind it is a progress report, not a final reckoning of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs."
In London, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw said in a statement that Kay's report "confirms how dangerous and deceitful the regime was, and how the military action was indeed both justified and essential to remove the dangers."
Britain was the main US ally in the Iraq war, and Prime Minister Tony Blair also faces widespread criticism over the evidence used to back the case for the invasion.
Meanwhile in Iraq, US troops traded fire with gunmen in the city of Fallujah.
"The enemy has evolved and he is a little more lethal, a little more complex, a little more sophisticated and in some cases a little more tenacious," said Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the head of US-led forces in Iraq.
The general said his soldiers were dying on an average of three to six a week, with another 40 being wounded over the same period.
Sanchez said he did not think US troops would be leaving the country any time soon despite his forces laying the groundwork for Iraqi sovereignty, which in principle should free US forces to go home.
"It will definitely be years. We never said it would be anything less than years," Sanchez said, as he surveyed Iraq's deadly security situation.
Hours later, two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a dry cleaners used by US troops in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, an Iraqi civil defence official said, adding there were no US casualties.
The suicide bombings came after six explosions rocked Kirkuk, including a roadside blast that destroyed a US Humvee vehicle and wounded two American soldiers, according to a senior security source who asked not to be named.
A US soldier was killed on Wednesday night in a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack in Samarra, 100 kilometres north of Baghdad, at the same time as another was struck down by small arms fire in the capital.
The attacks came just four hours after a bomb claimed the life of a soldier in Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam.
Their deaths brought to 88 the number of soldiers killed in Iraq since US President George W Bush declared major hostilities over on May 1.
In New York, the UN's future in Iraq was thrown into doubt after Secretary General Kofi Annan rejected US proposals on what its role there would be.
Annan stressed to the 15-member Security Council that he could not accept the terms of a new US draft resolution which did not incorporate his suggestions on how to handle the eventual transfer of political power in Iraq.
Diplomats said he bristled at taking on responsibilities given the dire security situation in Iraq, where two suicide bombings at the UN's Baghdad office since August killed 23 people, including his top envoy.
Annan told reporters his proposal to let Iraqis form a government first, before writing a constitution and then holding new elections, could help stem the guerrilla-style attacks against the US occupation.
"You get rid of the idea that it is an occupation and cut back on the resistance," he said. "That doesn't mean that the international community walks away."
The latest US proposals, discussed by the council, call for writing a constitution first -- a process that would take months -- before a "progressive" handover of political power to Iraqis.
One diplomat said Annan saw no way for "two powers" to be in charge and that, as long as the US occupation maintains hold, it would be very difficult for the United Nations to take part.
©AAP 2003
*SMH* I just wonder WHEN will they STOP the inspection and officially declare failure of discovery of the so-called WMD in Iraq and save US more money for other better things.
AFP - Saddam Hussein's elusive weapons of mass destruction have yet to be found, the man leading the US search told the US Congress, as the commander of US forces in Iraq said troops are facing an increasingly deadly foe.
The alleged existence of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons that posed an imminent danger to the western world was one of the main reasons for the US-led war that toppled the Iraqi leader.
However David Kay, the head of the US team of 1,200 experts scouring Iraq for WMD, has found no such weapons.
"We have not found at this point actual weapons," Kay told reporters after giving closed door briefings to the Senate and House of Representatives intelligence committees on the work of the Iraq Survey Group.
Neither was his team able to confirm pre-war intelligence stating that Iraqi military units were prepared to use chemical warfare agents against US forces.
In a report to the committees that was released in declassified form, Kay's team found that Iraq had little or no capacity to produce chemical warfare agents before the war because of damage inflicted by US air strikes and years of sanctions.
Kay insisted the findings did not mean the United States had concluded there were no weapons. "My advice to everyone is still don't be surprised by surprises in Iraq," he said.
It would take between six and nine more months to give a firm indication of the state of the Iraqi weapons program, he said.
The search had already cost $US300 million ($A439 million) and the administration plans to ask for $US600 million ($A878 million) more, the New York Times reported.
Kay's team did find that Saddam had not given up his goal to acquire weapons of mass destruction, and that the Iraqis were well advanced in developing missiles with ranges at least up to 1,000 kilometres, well in excess of the 150 kilometre range allowed under UN sanctions.
Asked about Kay's remarks, a senior White House official who declined to be named replied: "Keep in mind it is a progress report, not a final reckoning of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs."
In London, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw said in a statement that Kay's report "confirms how dangerous and deceitful the regime was, and how the military action was indeed both justified and essential to remove the dangers."
Britain was the main US ally in the Iraq war, and Prime Minister Tony Blair also faces widespread criticism over the evidence used to back the case for the invasion.
Meanwhile in Iraq, US troops traded fire with gunmen in the city of Fallujah.
"The enemy has evolved and he is a little more lethal, a little more complex, a little more sophisticated and in some cases a little more tenacious," said Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the head of US-led forces in Iraq.
The general said his soldiers were dying on an average of three to six a week, with another 40 being wounded over the same period.
Sanchez said he did not think US troops would be leaving the country any time soon despite his forces laying the groundwork for Iraqi sovereignty, which in principle should free US forces to go home.
"It will definitely be years. We never said it would be anything less than years," Sanchez said, as he surveyed Iraq's deadly security situation.
Hours later, two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a dry cleaners used by US troops in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, an Iraqi civil defence official said, adding there were no US casualties.
The suicide bombings came after six explosions rocked Kirkuk, including a roadside blast that destroyed a US Humvee vehicle and wounded two American soldiers, according to a senior security source who asked not to be named.
A US soldier was killed on Wednesday night in a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack in Samarra, 100 kilometres north of Baghdad, at the same time as another was struck down by small arms fire in the capital.
The attacks came just four hours after a bomb claimed the life of a soldier in Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam.
Their deaths brought to 88 the number of soldiers killed in Iraq since US President George W Bush declared major hostilities over on May 1.
In New York, the UN's future in Iraq was thrown into doubt after Secretary General Kofi Annan rejected US proposals on what its role there would be.
Annan stressed to the 15-member Security Council that he could not accept the terms of a new US draft resolution which did not incorporate his suggestions on how to handle the eventual transfer of political power in Iraq.
Diplomats said he bristled at taking on responsibilities given the dire security situation in Iraq, where two suicide bombings at the UN's Baghdad office since August killed 23 people, including his top envoy.
Annan told reporters his proposal to let Iraqis form a government first, before writing a constitution and then holding new elections, could help stem the guerrilla-style attacks against the US occupation.
"You get rid of the idea that it is an occupation and cut back on the resistance," he said. "That doesn't mean that the international community walks away."
The latest US proposals, discussed by the council, call for writing a constitution first -- a process that would take months -- before a "progressive" handover of political power to Iraqis.
One diplomat said Annan saw no way for "two powers" to be in charge and that, as long as the US occupation maintains hold, it would be very difficult for the United Nations to take part.
©AAP 2003
*SMH* I just wonder WHEN will they STOP the inspection and officially declare failure of discovery of the so-called WMD in Iraq and save US more money for other better things.