Nbadan
01-18-2005, 05:13 PM
WASHINGTON — The final U.S. intelligence report on weapons of mass destruction (search) in Iraq is expected to address whether the banned armaments may have been smuggled out of the country before the war started.
Top Bush administration officials have speculated publicly that chemical, biological or radiological weapons may have been smuggled out, and the question is one of the unresolved issues on WMD. The report is due next month. Intelligence and congressional officials say they have not seen any information — never "a piece," said one — indicating that WMD or significant amounts of components and equipment were transferred from Iraq to neighboring Syria, Jordan or elsewhere.
The administration acknowledged last week that the search for banned weapons is largely over. The Iraq Survey Group's (search) chief, Charles Duelfer, is expected to submit the final installments of his report in February. A small number of the organization's experts will remain on the job in case new intelligence on Iraqi WMD is unearthed.
But the officials familiar with the search say U.S. authorities have found no evidence that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (search) transferred WMD or related equipment out of Iraq.
Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144623,00.html)
There has yet to be any demonstration whatsoever that Iraq had any significant chemical, biological or radiological weapons capability of any kind. Even more significantly, there is absolutely no indication whatsoever that Iraq had the capability to produce such weapons, leaving open the question of where such minor, if any, capability that may have existed at one time might have come from.
It beggars the imagination to even try to conceive of a nation, anywhere nearly as 'dangerous' as Iraq is purported to have been, that wouldn't have used such weaponry, if they had it, when invaded in the "first Gulf War."
The sole significant findings had to do with "precursors" - materials which could conceivably be employed in the production of such weapons. Yet no significant industrial capacity for their production or the disposal of by-products of such production has ever been identified.
Top Bush administration officials have speculated publicly that chemical, biological or radiological weapons may have been smuggled out, and the question is one of the unresolved issues on WMD. The report is due next month. Intelligence and congressional officials say they have not seen any information — never "a piece," said one — indicating that WMD or significant amounts of components and equipment were transferred from Iraq to neighboring Syria, Jordan or elsewhere.
The administration acknowledged last week that the search for banned weapons is largely over. The Iraq Survey Group's (search) chief, Charles Duelfer, is expected to submit the final installments of his report in February. A small number of the organization's experts will remain on the job in case new intelligence on Iraqi WMD is unearthed.
But the officials familiar with the search say U.S. authorities have found no evidence that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (search) transferred WMD or related equipment out of Iraq.
Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144623,00.html)
There has yet to be any demonstration whatsoever that Iraq had any significant chemical, biological or radiological weapons capability of any kind. Even more significantly, there is absolutely no indication whatsoever that Iraq had the capability to produce such weapons, leaving open the question of where such minor, if any, capability that may have existed at one time might have come from.
It beggars the imagination to even try to conceive of a nation, anywhere nearly as 'dangerous' as Iraq is purported to have been, that wouldn't have used such weaponry, if they had it, when invaded in the "first Gulf War."
The sole significant findings had to do with "precursors" - materials which could conceivably be employed in the production of such weapons. Yet no significant industrial capacity for their production or the disposal of by-products of such production has ever been identified.