NY TIMES - Powell's Case, a Year Later: Gaps in Picture of Iraq Arms

Even one of the most compelling sections of Mr. Powell's presentation, satellite photographs of suspected chemical weapons sites, appears to have been misjudged. The suspicious-looking movement at several sites of what were believed to be decontamination vehicles and trucks covered with tarps more likely involved more benign commercial activity; inspectors found no evidence of weapons production.
The administration's evidence, according to the interviews, was much more accurate in the arena of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles: very active programs were under way for both. The missiles clearly violated range limits set by the United Nations, and Mr. Hussein was trying to buy better technology from North Korea.
"There are still millions of documents that have yet to be examined, thousands of scientists and former government officials yet to be thoroughly debriefed, and countless possible hiding sites which have yet to be searched," the senior intelligence official said. "We find it puzzling that those who say the intelligence community reached its conclusions on limited evidence are reaching opposite conclusions on even less."
Dr. Kay rejected [Paul Krugman's] charges that policy makers pressured analysts to bend their assessments to fit the administration's need to justify the coming war. He said he had talked to a number of C.I.A. analysts involved in the prewar intelligence reports, and none ever told of pressure by the administration to shape reports.
One part of Mr. Powell's presentation holds up well: his assertion that Mr. Hussein was desperately trying to build missiles with a range to go far beyond the 90-mile limit set by the United Nations after the 1991 war.
When inspectors re-entered Iraq in November 2002, they reported "a surge of activity" since their last inspections more than four years earlier. Dr. Kay reported that detained scientists talked of efforts to build missiles with ranges upwards of 600 miles, enough to hit Israel and American troops in the region. There was discussion of missiles that could carry chemical weapons.

FOXNews.com - McCain Wants Independent Intel Investigation

Parting company with many of his fellow Republicans, Sen. John McCain (search) said Thursday he wants an independent commission to take a sweeping look at recent intelligence failures.
The White House has dismissed the proposal, saying the CIA is committed to reviewing the intelligence behind claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The Bush administration also argues that the weapons search is not yet complete.

Glenn Beck - What Did The Democrats Say About Iraq's WMD?

Excerpts:

"Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime ... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction ... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real..." - Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003

"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process." - Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998

"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line." - President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members ... It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons." - Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002

Hill Probers Fault Iraq Intelligence (washingtonpost.com)

The House and Senate intelligence committees have unearthed a series of failures in prewar intelligence on Iraq similar to those identified by former weapons inspector David Kay, leading them to believe that CIA analysts and their superiors did not seriously consider the possibility Saddam Hussein no longer possessed weapons of mass destruction, congressional officials said.

Democrats for Bush

"even as New Hampshire Democrats were going to the polls to vote for their favorite antiwar antagonist, a plane was landing in Al Gore's home state of Tennessee with 55,000 pounds of material from Libya's nuclear weapons program to be tested. It turns out that all these months that Howard Dean and John Kerry and their pals were condemning George W. Bush's decision to hold Saddam Hussein accountable, Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi was getting the message that he had better say goodbye to his weapons programs, or he might be dragged from a hole as Saddam was."

Charles Krauthammer: What David Kay really said

"All the analysts I have talked to said they never felt pressured on WMD,'' says Kay. "Everyone believed that (Iraq) had WMD.''
Including the Clinton administration. Kay told The Washington Post that he had found evidence that Saddam had quietly destroyed some biological and chemical weapons in the mid-1990s -- but never reported it to the U.N. Which was why Clinton in 1998 declared with great alarm and great confidence that Iraq had huge stockpiles of biological and chemical arms -- "and some day, some way, I guarantee you, he'll use the arsenal.''

CNN.com - U.S. general: Capture is 'strong proof' al Qaeda in Iraq

The U.S.-led coalition struck a blow in the war on terrorism with the capture of an al Qaeda operative in Iraq, a top U.S. military official said Thursday.
Speaking to reporters, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez discussed the arrest of Hasan Ghul, who was seized last week along the Iran-Iraq border.
"The capture of Ghul is pretty strong proof that al Qaeda is trying to gain a foothold here to continue their murderous campaigns," Sanchez said. "Ghul's capture is great news for the Iraqis, for the coalition and for the international community's war against terrorism."
"With the Hasan Ghul arrest, we know that there are some couriers" for al Qaeda in the country, Sanchez said. "We believe there are some fundamentalist terrorist linkages with the former regime at the tactical level. We believe there are efforts to strengthen those linkages."

Reuters - Iraq Minister Says Saddam's WMD Carefully Hidden

Iraqi foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari said Thursday Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction had been carefully hidden, but he was confident they could be discovered.
"I have every belief that some of these weapons could be found as we move forward," Zebari, an Iraqi Kurd, told a news conference in Sofia. "They have been hidden in certain areas. The system of hiding was very sophisticated."
"We as Iraqis have seen Saddam Hussein develop, manufacture and use these weapons of mass destruction against us. He hasn't denied that."

CNN.com - Analysts: Hutton a relief for Blair

"The allegation that I or anyone else lied to this House (of Commons) or deliberately misled the country by falsifying intelligence on WMD (weapons of mass destruction) is itself the real lie," Blair said.

CNN.com - Transcript: David Kay at Senate hearing

In my judgment, based on the work that has been done to this point of the Iraq Survey Group, and in fact, that I reported to you in October, Iraq was in clear violation of the terms of [U.N.] Resolution 1441.
Resolution 1441 required that Iraq report all of its activities -- one last chance to come clean about what it had.
We have discovered hundreds of cases, based on both documents, physical evidence and the testimony of Iraqis, of activities that were prohibited under the initial U.N. Resolution 687 and that should have been reported under 1441, with Iraqi testimony that not only did they not tell the U.N. about this, they were instructed not to do it and they hid material.

CNN.com - Ex-Iraq inspector: Prewar intelligence failure 'disturbing'

Kay told the senators that the intelligence he had seen before the war indicated Saddam had banned weapons and that France and Germany -- countries that had opposed the war -- had stated that the Iraqi dictator possessed such weapons.
"It turns out we were all wrong, and that is most disturbing," Kay said.
Kay said that while it was "theoretically possible" large stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons could be found in Iraq, the prospect was "highly unlikely."
He said he did not believe that anyone had pressured intelligence officials to conclude that Saddam's government had banned weapons.

NY Times - Ex-Arms Monitor Urges an Inquiry on Iraqi Threat

David A. Kay, the former chief weapons inspector in Iraq, called on Wednesday for an independent inquiry into prewar intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs, but he said he did not believe that the Bush administration had pressured intelligence analysts to exaggerate the threat.

Washington Times - Iraqi govt. papers: Saddam bribed Chirac - (United Press International)

Documents from Saddam Hussein's oil ministry reveal he used oil to bribe top French officials into opposing the imminent U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
The oil ministry papers, described by the independent Baghdad newspaper al-Mada, are apparently authentic and will become the basis of an official investigation by the new Iraqi Governing Council, the Independent reported Wednesday.

Guardian Unlimited - Angry Blair claims vindication

A furious Tony Blair today declared himself totally vindicated by Lord Hutton's report and turned on his attackers, demanding apologies from both the BBC and the Conservatives.
Speaking to a packed, tense and tribal House of Commons chamber minutes after the law lord delivered his conclusions, the prime minister demanded retractions from the BBC for suggesting he misrepresented intelligence and the Conservatives for saying he was behind the leaking of Dr David Kelly's name.

BBC - BBC chairman quits over Hutton

"BBC chairman Gavyn Davies has resigned in the wake of Lord Hutton's criticisms of the corporation's reports.
He quit after Lord Hutton said the suggestion in BBC reports that the government "sexed up" its dossier on Iraq's weapons with unreliable intelligence was "unfounded."

Debra Saunders: Kerry's 'last resort'

"Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., can't give a credible explanation as to why he voted against the Persian Gulf War in 1991 but then for a 2002 resolution that authorized the use of force in Iraq, even though he now opposes how President Bush is conducting the war."

Jonah Goldberg: Straightforwardness would defuse WMD issue

"the idea that the president lied to the American people hinges on - at least - one almost impossible fact: that George W. Bush knew for a certainty that the intelligence agencies of America, Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Australia, as well as the United Nations and countless independent experts were all wrong."

AP - Kay to Testify About Iraqi WMD Search

Former top U.S. weapons inspector David Kay is scheduled to testify before a Senate committee Wednesday

Instapundit.com: "THE CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE LIED"

"An August 2002 report from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said Iraq 'almost certainly does have large numbers of chemical weapons and some biological weapons.'"

Classical Values: Unsettling update on an unsettled issue

Supposedly discredited reports about the connections between Al Qaida and Saddam Hussein just won't die...

USATODAY.com - Bush defends war despite no WMD findings in Iraq

This article contains a timeline of Bush quotes on Iraq's WMDs.

CNN.com - Bush defends Iraq war in face of WMD findings

"We cannot take the president off the hook for an illegal war that was based on lies," Kucinich said.
Oh really... is that what you said about President Clinton in 1998?

FT.com - Cheney backs away from Iraq WMD claim

Irresponsible AP Report Spreads...
"The vice-president had been one of the administration's most vocal champions of the view that Iraq possessed chemical and biological weapons. Shortly before the war he also claimed it had "reconstituted" nuclear arms."

This is not accurate reporting.

NY Times: Less Certainty in White House on Iraq's Arms, by James Risen

David Kay "said American intelligence analysts had believed that Iraq had illegal weapons during the Clinton and Bush administrations, and said the fact the intelligence community as a whole was so wrong meant there should be a thorough reappraisal of how such intelligence work is conducted."

Slate: Why Didn't Kerry Speak Out? - When Bush broke those Iraq "promises" By Mickey Kaus

Kaus on Kerry
Kerry's Justifications, Part II
In case you have missed it, Kerry explains his vote this way:
"I voted to give the authority to the president to use force under a set of promises by the president as to how he would do it: build a legitimate international coalition, exhaust the remedies of the United Nations, and go to war as a last resort. He broke every single one of those promises."
"And that's why I'm the best candidate to run against him and beat him, because I knew we had to hold Saddam Hussein accountable but I knew how to do it the right way. President Bush did it the wrong way."

and then...
"If he fails to do so," Senator Kerry continued, "I will be the first to speak out."

"Senator Kerry broke that promise ... In the crucial days after the president withdrew his efforts to gain United Nations support for his war and before the president launched his invasion, Senator Kerry remained silent. The president had, indeed, failed to build an international coalition, and yet the senator did not speak out."

The Art of Camouflage - David Kay comes clean, almost. By Fred Kaplan

Kaplan attempts to protray David Kay's October report as an act of deception. One quote of interest - Kay said, "We know that terrorists were passing through Iraq. And now we know that there was little control over Iraq's weapons capabilities. I think it shows that Iraq was a very dangerous place. The country had the technology, the ability to produce, and there were terrorist groups passing through the country—and no central control."

Reuters - U.S. to Review Prewar Intelligence on Iraqi Weapons

Vice President Dick Cheney, a prime architect of the war, said last week the United States had not given up on finding unconventional weapons.
"It's going to take some additional considerable period of time to look at all of the cubbyholes and ... dumps and all the places in Iraq where you might expect to find something like that," Cheney told National Public Radio.

FOXNews.com - Ex-Weapons Inspector Says U.S. Intelligence Failed

Kerry (D-MA) Steps Up To The Plate:
"[David Kay's comments confirm] what I have said for a long period of time, that we were misled — misled not only in the intelligence, but misled in the way that the president took us to war," Kerry said on "Fox News Sunday." "I think there's been an enormous amount of exaggeration, stretching, deception."

No Kidding, Senator?
The President went to war with your blessing, so let's find out why you voted to authorize military force in Iraq, Mr. Kerry:
1. "I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force — if necessary — to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security."
2. "I voted to hold Iraq accountable and hold Saddam Hussein accountable. That was the right vote for the defense of the United States of America."
3. "When I voted for the war, I voted for what I thought was best for the country."
4. "[My position] is absolutely consistent because what I voted for is to hold Saddam Hussein accountable -- but to do it right."

Why don't you get your own story straight first before you criticize others for "misleading the country into war," Mr. Senator.

NY Times: White House to Review Prewar Intelligence on Iraqi Arms, by Brian Knowlton (International Herald Tribune)

To Syria or Not to Syria, That is the Question
Bush administration officials insisted today that the Iraq war was justified, but they promised further review of prewar intelligence after the outgoing chief American weapons inspector said that he was almost certain that Iraq had no significant banned weaponry before the war.
In interviews over the weekend, the lead inspector, David A. Kay, said that he did not believe that Iraq had significant biological, chemical or nuclear weapons in the days before the American-led invasion in March, and he did not believe that any such weapons had been shipped to Syria.

They blinded us... with SCIENCE!
"Weapons of mass destruction, including evil chemistry and evil biology, are all matters of great concern, not only to the United States but also to the world community," Mr. Ashcroft said. "They were the subject of U.N. resolutions."

Sure, he was evil in the past...
One international rights group, Human Rights Watch, said today that even though armed intervention could have been justified following Mr. Hussein's 1988 massacre of Kurds, the dictator's actions in recent years were not grievous enough to justify war.
"Brutal as Saddam Hussein's reign had been, the scope of the Iraq government's killing in March 2003 was not of the exceptional and dire magnitude that would justify humanitarian intervention," the group's head, Kenneth Roth, wrote.
He added: "The Bush administration cannot justify the war in Iraq as a humanitarian intervention, and neither can Tony Blair."

CNN.com - Bush praises capture of al Qaeda operative

President Bush praised U.S. intelligence agencies Monday for their role in the capture of a key al Qaeda operative in Iraq.
"Hasan Ghul reported directly to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 11 attacks," Bush told an audience of health care workers at Baptist Hospital.

CNN.com - U.S., Britain downplay Kay remarks

"What we know today only reconfirms that the president made the right decision," said McClellan, insisting that Kay's interim report in the fall confirmed "that Saddam Hussein was in material breach of" of United Nations Resolution 1441.

Telegraph - Saddam's WMD hidden in Syria, says Iraq survey chief

David Kay, the former head of the coalition's hunt for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, yesterday claimed that part of Saddam Hussein's secret weapons programme was hidden in Syria.
In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, Dr Kay, who last week resigned as head of the Iraq Survey Group, said that he had uncovered evidence that unspecified materials had been moved to Syria shortly before last year's war to overthrow Saddam.
"We are not talking about a large stockpile of weapons," he said. "But we know from some of the interrogations of former Iraqi officials that a lot of material went to Syria before the war, including some components of Saddam's WMD programme."

Sean Penn returns to Iraq and files a personal, candid report from the front

This was published a few weeks back, but parts of it are pretty cool. Skip the first 10 paragraphs.

CNN.com - Syria denies hiding Iraq's WMDs

An article in London's Sunday Telegraph quoted David Kay, the outgoing leader of a U.S. weapons search team in Iraq, as saying that part of Iraq's secret weapons program had been hidden in Syria.
But in an interview aired later Sunday on National Public Radio, Kay said it is difficult to determine whether shipments to Syria included weapons, in part because Syria has refused to cooperate in this part of the weapons investigation.
In brief comments to reporters, Syrian Information Minister Ahmad Hassan called the Telegraph report "baseless and misleading."

NY TIMES - C.I.A. Had Only Very Little Data on Iraqi Arms, Ex-Inspector Says

This is a great article. Selected quotes below:
David A. Kay, who led the government's efforts to find evidence of Iraq's illicit weapons programs until he resigned on Friday, said the C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies did not realize that Iraqi scientists had presented ambitious but fanciful weapons programs to Mr. Hussein and had then used the money for other purposes.
Mr. Kay also reported that Iraq attempted to revive its efforts to develop nuclear weapons in 2001 and 2002, but never got as far toward making a bomb as Iran and Libya.
He said Baghdad was actively working to produce a biological weapon using the poison ricin until the American invasion last March. But in general, Mr. Kay said, the C.I.A. and other agencies failed to recognize that Iraq had all but abandoned its efforts to produce large quantities of chemical or biological weapons after the first Persian Gulf war, in 1991.
Mr. Kay said the fundamental errors in prewar intelligence assessments were so grave that he would recommend that the Central Intelligence Agency and other organizations overhaul their intelligence collection and analytical efforts.
Mr. Kay said analysts had come to him, "almost in tears, saying they felt so badly that we weren't finding what they had thought we were going to find — I have had analysts apologizing for reaching the conclusions that they did."
Regarding biological weapons, he said there was evidence that the Iraqis continued research and development "right up until the end" to improve their ability to produce ricin. "They were mostly researching better methods for weaponization," Mr. Kay said. "They were maintaining an infrastructure, but they didn't have large-scale production under way."
Mr. Kay said Iraq had also maintained an active ballistic missile program that was receiving significant foreign assistance right up until the start of the American invasion. He said it appeared that money was put back into the nuclear weapons program to restart the effort in part because the Iraqis realized they needed some kind of payload for their new rockets.
While he urged that the hunt should continue in Iraq, he said he believed "85 percent of the significant things" have already been uncovered, and cautioned that severe looting in Iraq after Mr. Hussein was toppled in April had led to the loss of many key documents and other materials. That means it will be virtually impossible to ever get a complete picture of what Iraq was up to before the war, he added.
He said Iraqi scientists and documents show that Baghdad was far more concerned about United Nations inspections than Washington had ever realized.
"The Iraqis say that they believed that Unscom was more effective, and they didn't want to get caught," Mr. Kay said, using an acronym for the inspection program, the United Nations Special Commission.
The Iraqis also feared the disclosures that would come from the 1995 defection of Hussein Kamel, Mr. Hussein's son-in-law, who had helped run the weapons programs. Mr. Kay said one Iraqi document that had been found showed the extent to which the Iraqis believed that Mr. Kamel's defection would hamper any efforts to continue weapons programs.
In addition, Mr. Kay said, it is now clear that an 1998 American bombing campaign against Iraq in 1998 destroyed much of the remaining infrastructure in chemical weapons programs.
The former Iraqi officers reported that no Special Republican Guard units had chemical or biological weapons, he said. But all of the officers believed that some other Special Republican Guard unit had chemical weapons.
"They all said they didn't have it, but they thought other units had it," Mr. Kay said. He said it appeared they were the victims of a disinformation campaign orchestrated by Mr. Hussein.
Mr. Kay said there was also no conclusive evidence that Iraq had moved any weapons of mass destruction to Syria, as some Bush administration officials have suggested. He said there had been persistent reports from Iraqis saying they or someone they knew had see cargo being moved across the border, but there is no proof that such movements involved weapons materials.
Mr. Kay said he was convinced that the analysts were not pressed by the Bush administration to make certain their prewar intelligence reports conformed to a White House agenda on Iraq.

CNN.com - Blair defends Iraq WMD reports

Intelligence reports suggesting Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction were correct, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said in an interview with a Sunday newspaper.
Blair said he believed in the intelligence material presented to him ahead of last year's conflict, despite the subsequent failure of coalition forces to find WMD in Iraq.
"I believe the intelligence was correct, and I think in the end we will have an explanation. I have absolutely no doubt at all in my mind that the intelligence was genuine."
Asked if the weapons will be found, Blair said: "Well that is something that the Iraq Survey Group is going to have to find. All I can say is that prior to the conflict, during the conflict, immediately after the conflict, we were having meetings, discussions, taking precautions precisely on that basis."

AP - Kay: Lack of Iraqi WMD Requires Review

U.S. intelligence agencies need to explain why their research indicated Iraq possessed banned weapons before the American-led invasion, says the outgoing top U.S. inspector, who now believes Saddam Hussein had no such arms.

I don't think they exist,' David Kay said Sunday. 'The fact that we found so far the weapons do not exist - we've got to deal with that difference and understand why.'

Kay's remarks on National Public Radio reignited criticism from Democrats, who ignored his cautions that the failure to find weapons of mass destruction was "not a political issue."

"It's an issue of the capabilities of one's intelligence service to collect valid, truthful information," Kay said. Asked whether President Bush owed the nation an explanation for the gap between his warnings and Kay's findings, Kay said: "I actually think the intelligence community owes the president, rather than the president owing the American people."

Sloppy Reporting

AP reporter Scott Lindlaw also inaccurately quotes Vice President Cheney's interview on Meet the Press: Cheney warned in March 2003, three days before the invasion: "We believe he (Saddam) has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons." Cheney misspoke when he said that, which can be clearly understood from the transcript of the interview. Below are two other statements that do not jive with that misstatement, as quoted by the AP, where Cheney explains the government's position in greater detail:

1. "It's only a matter of time until he acquires nuclear weapons."

2. "And I think that would be the fear here, that even if he were tomorrow to give everything up, if he stays in power, we have to assume that as soon as the world is looking the other way and preoccupied with other issues, he will be back again rebuilding his BW and CW capabilities, and once again reconstituting his nuclear program. He has pursued nuclear weapons for over 20 years. Done absolutely everything he could to try to acquire that capability and if he were to cough up whatever he has in that regard now, even if it was complete and total, we have to assume tomorrow he would be right back in business again."

Yahoo! News - U.S. General Says Qaeda, Iraq Links May Be Growing

"The top U.S. military commander in Iraq [Ricardo Sanchez] said Sunday there was evidence ties might be growing between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein loyalists waging a bloody insurgency in the country."
"What you see is a lot of fingerprints in terms of the tactics and techniques and procedures that are being employed. We are working very hard to establish whether there are today positive links."

FOXNews.com - Powell Admits Possibility Iraq Had No WMD

The Sunday Telegraph in London reported that Kay said elements of Saddam's weapons program was sent to Syria.
"We are not talking about a large stockpile of weapons but we know from some of the interrogations of former Iraqi officials that a lot of material went to Syria before the war, including some components of Saddam's WMD (weapons of mass destruction) program," the paper quoted Kay as saying. "Precisely what went to Syria, and what has happened to it, is a major issue that needs to be resolved."
Kay told reporters in Washington in October that "senior Iraqi officials, both military and scientific," had moved to Jordan and Syria, "both pre-conflict and some during the conflict, and some immediately after the conflict." Other U.S. officials, including the head of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, also have suggested Iraqis moved evidence of weapons of mass destruction to Syria and perhaps other countries.

CNN.com - Powell unsure whether WMD will be found in Iraq

"I think the answer to the question is 'I don't know yet,'" Powell told reporters. "Last year, when I made my presentation, it was based on the best intelligence that we had at the time. It reflected the National Intelligence Estimate that the intelligence community had presented to all administration officials and had briefed to the Congress. And it was consistent with the views of other intelligence agencies of other governments, and it was consistent with the body of reporting over the years."

CNN.com Special Report - WMD in Iraq

Here is a comprehensive resource page by CNN.

CNN.com - WMD claim puts pressure on Blair

The British government says the search for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction must continue, despite the resignation of the head of the U.S.-led inspection team in the country.

MSNBC - Living proof of al-Qaida in Iraq

U.S. officials claim they now have living proof that Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network may be behind some of the terrorist attacks in Iraq. The officials tell NBC News U.S. special forces captured a top al-Qaida leader during a raid in Iraq on Thursday.
He’s Hasan Guhl — in the top 20 of al-Qaida leaders. Called “The Gatekeeper,” he’s responsible for providing money, transportation and safe havens for al-Qaida terrorists.
MSNBC's last paragraph (appearing in a different font):
"U.S. officials believe Hasan Guhl arrived in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein and acknowledge there still appears to be no direct terrorist link between al-Qaida and Saddam."

FOXNews.com - Suspected Al Qaeda Operatives Nabbed in Iraq

Fox delivers - Al Qaeda cell suspected in Iraq, "Ghul" has a first name, plus three more Al Qaeda suspects captured
U.S. forces in Iraq believe they may be facing an Al Qaeda cell in Fallujah after two men with suspected ties to the terror network were captured in the last week, sources told Fox News Friday.
Husam al-Yemeni was arrested by U.S. forces last Thursday and is said to be part of the leadership structure of Ansar al-Islam, the Al Qaeda-associated terrorist group based in Iraqi Kurdistan. Some U.S. officials described al-Yemeni as the first Al Qaeda operative captured in Iraq.
Another possible Al Qaeda operative, Hasan Ghul, was detained Thursday in Iraq. Ghul, a Pakistani, is known to have been an Al Qaeda member since the early 1990s, when Al Qaeda was established.
Officials said it was too early to be sure, but at least one guerrilla cell in Fallujah — a Sunni Arab city known for its fierce enmity toward American forces — was believed to be linked to Al Qaeda. The officials said three other possible Al Qaeda operatives — two Egyptians and an Iraqi — had been captured in raids Sunday.

CNN.com - U.S. officials: Al Qaeda agent arrested in Iraq [make that two?]

who is Ghul, and what does he have to do with Husam al Yemeni?
A senior al Qaeda operative was captured Thursday in Iraq by friendly foreign forces and turned over to U.S. intelligence personnel, senior U.S. officials said.
A U.S. official told CNN that Ghul is a "longtime facilitator, operator" within al Qaeda, and a "significant player."
It is believed that Ghul was captured soon after his arrival in Iraq, the official said.
Earlier Friday, Pentagon sources announced that U.S. forces had captured a man described as a top lieutenant to a man connected to Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish guerrilla group that U.S. officials say is linked to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.
The suspect, identified as Husam al Yemeni, was captured last week along with other suspects during a raid near Fallujah in central Iraq, sources told CNN.
He is said to be a key associate of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. Pentagon officials call the capture "significant" and say it suggests they may be getting closer to finding Zarqawi.
In his address to the United Nations on February 5, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell named Al-Zarqawi's presence in northern Iraq as evidence of a "sinister nexus between Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network."
The commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq had recently discussed his suspicion that insurgents in Iraq, whose tactics resemble those of al Qaeda, may be receiving financial support from the terror group, in the country said.
"I think it's probably not appropriate for me to talk about al Qaeda in the sense of a concrete, proven presence," Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said. "We're seeing al Qaeda-like tactics. We believe that there's training that's been conducted for some of the terrorists."

CNN.com - WMD hunter: No stockpiles in Iraq

The man who has led Washington's search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, David Kay, says he doesn't think large weapons stockpiles existed there past the mid-1990s.

Reuters - Ex-U.S. Arms Hunter Kay Says No Stockpiles in Iraq

David Kay, who stepped down as leader of the U.S. hunt for weapons of mass destruction, said on Friday he does not believe there were any large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons in Iraq.
"I don't think they existed," Kay told Reuters in a telephone interview. "What everyone was talking about is stockpiles produced after the end of the last (1991) Gulf War and I don't think there was a large-scale production program in the '90s," he said.

CNN.com - Former U.N. inspector to head WMD hunt in Iraq

A former U.N. weapons inspection official will lead the U.S. hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, CIA Director George Tenet said Friday.
Charles Duelfer, 51, the former deputy executive chairman of the U.N. Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM), will take over from David Kay, who is stepping down as Tenet's special adviser on the search for banned weapons in Iraq.

CNN Buries Info In Another Article On Casualties

Among the hidden gems: "Meanwhile, Charles Duelfer, a former U.N. arms inspector in Iraq, is likely to replace [David] Kay, according to a U.S. official, who said an announcement should come in a few days."

Top U.S. Politician: Iraq WMD May Have Gone to Syria

U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Pat Roberts said there was some concern Iraqi weapons of mass destruction had gone to Syria, and Washington vowed to carry on searching for such arms in Iraq.
Roberts, a leading member of President Bush's Republican Party, said on Wednesday: "I think that there is some concern that shipments of WMD (weapons of mass destruction) went to Syria." He did not elaborate.

Kelly believed Iraq had WMD

One week before judge Lord Hutton delivers his report on the scientist's suicide -- a judgement which could rock the government to its core -- the BBC's investigative Panorama programme will broadcast later on Wednesday an interview it recorded with Kelly in October 2002, which it has never shown.
According to the BBC's website, Kelly did regard Saddam Hussein as posing an "immediate threat". "Even if they're not actually filled and deployed today, the capability exists to get them filled and deployed within a matter of days and weeks," the BBC quoted Kelly as saying of Iraq's weaponry.
"(Saddam) would have been planning to develop them and have far better and far more effective systems, and those we are completely unsighted of, and we're unsighted as to whether that work has continued since 1991 to this very day," he said.

Mass graves 'are everywhere' in Iraq

So far, 282 possible mass grave sites have been identified, 55 have been confirmed and 20 have been explored. But nine months after the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, the total number of mass graves is unknown. So, too, is the number buried, though the figure is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands.

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CNN: Blair Defends Bush On Iraq Weapons

British Prime Minister Tony Blair Wednesday deflected a call for an independent inquiry into his country's role in the Iraq war, saying there was "absolutely no doubt" about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

"Had we failed to act, the dictator's (Saddam Hussein's) weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day," Bush said.

"There can be no doubt at all that those weapons existed, absolutely no doubt because that is said not just by this government or the United States government, it was set out in detail over 12 years by the United Nations and by United Nations inspectors," Blair said.

CNN: Iraq did have WMD, said Kelly

The late UK government scientist David Kelly believed Iraq did have banned weapons and posed an immediate threat, according to a previously unbroadcast interview.

The weapons expert slashed his wrists near his home in Oxfordshire, southern England, in July 2003 after being exposed as the source of a claim by a BBC reporter that the prime minister's team inflated the threat posed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, to justify war.

In one excerpt of the interview seen by CNN, Kelly was asked if "they" posed an "immediate threat." It was not entirely clear if the reporter was referring to Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.

Kelly replied: "Yes they are. Even if they are not actually filled and deployed today the capability exists to get them filled and deployed within a matter of days or weeks. So yes, they are a real threat."

The BBC's Web site also reported that Kelly said Saddam's biological weapons program posed a "real threat" to neighboring countries.

"We're talking about Iran and Israel, and certainly he can use those weapons against them and you don't need a vast stockpile to have a tremendous military effect," it quoted him as saying.

Congressman: Details of Iraqi WMD 'years away'

It could take years before investigators are able to uncover the details of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs under Saddam Hussein, according to the House Intelligence Committee's chairman.

"Every day is a new day for the intelligence people," said Rep. Porter Goss, R-Florida. "I would say that we are probably a couple of years away from getting through all the material and talking to all the people we need to talk to about exactly what was going on, not only with the Saddam Hussein regime but with some of the Taliban and some of the things that have been going on in North Korea, Libya, Iran and other places."

The CIA's Iraq Survey Group, under David Kay, continues to search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and evidence that Saddam concealed such programs from the international community. The search is expected to continue for another three to six months.

Kay presented a preliminary report to the House Intelligence Committee in October that said the group found no weapons of mass destruction, but did uncover evidence that Saddam's regime planned to manufacture them.

The Bush administration said last year that the Iraqi threat of weapons of mass destruction was a main reason for its decision to launch a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March.

In his State of the Union address Tuesday night to Congress and the American people, President Bush cited the Kay report as support for the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

"Had we failed to act, [Saddam's] weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day," Bush said.

Audio Link: Wesley Clark Then and Now on Iraq

Comparison: Today's Wesley Clark in an interview with Tom Browcaw vs. Yesterday's Wesley Clark in testimony before Congress.

Bush: State of the Union 2004

"As part of the offensive against terror, we are also confronting the regimes that harbor and support terrorists, and could supply them with nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. The United States and our allies are determined: We refuse to live in the shadow of this ultimate danger."

"Some in this chamber, and in our country, did not support the liberation of Iraq. Objections to war often come from principled motives. But let us be candid about the consequences of leaving Saddam in power. We are seeking all the facts - already the Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations. Had we failed to act, the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day. Had we failed to act, Security Council resolutions on Iraq would have been revealed as empty threats, weakening the United Nations and encouraging defiance by dictators around the world. Iraq's torture chambers would still be filled with victims terrified and innocent. The killing fields of Iraq where hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children vanished into the sands would still be known only to the killers. For all who love freedom and peace, the world without Saddam Hussein's regime is a better and safer place."

"Some critics have said our duties in Iraq must be internationalized. This particular criticism is hard to explain to our partners in Britain, Australia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Italy, Spain, Poland, Denmark, Hungary, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania, the Netherlands, Norway, El Salvador, and the 17 other countries that have committed troops to Iraq. As we debate at home, we must never ignore the vital contributions of our international partners, or dismiss their sacrifices. From the beginning, America has sought international support for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we have gained much support. There is a difference, however, between leading a coalition of many nations, and submitting to the objections of a few. America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people."

Washington Post - Arms issue seen as hurting U.S. credibility: Bush's failure to find illegal weapons harming foreign policy, by Glenn Kessler

The Bush administration's inability to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq -- after public statements declaring an imminent threat posed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein -- has begun to harm the credibility abroad of the United States and of American intelligence, according to foreign policy experts in both parties.

Guilty as Charged: President Bush was as right as our intelligence was wrong

"Two years after President Bush's much bemoaned 2002 State of the Union address, the charges that he leveled against the "Axis of Evil" have been proven. As President Bush had alleged, Iran, Iraq, and North Korea were seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in violation of their international obligations. That Bush was justified in his public indictment of these states is rarely acknowledged. That in each case Bush was vindicated by an intelligence failure is insufficiently discussed."

Cheney says it's too soon to tell on Iraqi arms

"I am a long way at this stage from concluding that somehow there was some fundamental flaw in our intelligence," Cheney said

Cheney suggested that biological weapons are hard to find because they could be produced on short notice. "The stuff is perishable and doesn't last very long anyway," he said. But, he added, intelligence is "never perfect. It's rarely 100% complete."

The Iraq invasion is helping the administration deal with other foreign policy hot spots. "If you do, in fact, use military force, as we did in Iraq, it makes your diplomacy more effective going forward, dealing with other problems."

USA Today Interview with VP Cheney

"My hunch on WMD, I think the jury is still out. I think the National Intelligence Estimate was based upon on years of reporting. It was pretty consistent with what the Clinton administration had."

"We know he did, in fact, have it in the past because he used it. And I think that we've got a lot of people over there now trying to find what happened to it. I think we need to think in terms of capabilities, the capacity, for example, on short notice to produce biological weapons. The stuff is perishable and doesn't last very long anyway. And as I say, the jury is still out."

ABC Interview with Secretary Powell

"A nation that practices terror, that is developing weapons of mass destruction that could fall into the hands of terrorists and that was willing to use those weapons had to be dealt with. And the UN for 12 years had been trying to deal with Iraq and did not succeed. So the President -- and boldly accompanied by Prime Minister Howard and Prime Minister Blair and so many other leaders -- decided it was time to act in the name of the international community and safety of the international community. So we didn't believe it was a detour in the war against terrorism at all. The war against terrorism continues. We're rolling up al-Qa'ida cells. They are still dangerous and we've got to stay with it. It's going to be a long war, as the President said at the very beginning."

"There are clues and there are indications that there were contact between [Iraq and Al Qaida], but we're not overstating the case that there is solid evidence that would connect, for example, Saddam Hussein with what happened on 9/11. But we're still uncovering information and I think we have presented this in a balanced, careful way."

"What I presented last February 5 was not something I made up in my office. It was a product of the intelligence community -- and not just the United States intelligence community, but other intelligence communities around the world that helped us with information -- and the director of central intelligence, his deputy and all of the other leaders of our intelligence community stood behind that presentation. We didn't hype it. If it wasn't multisourced, we didn't use it. And I stand behind it."

"[Saddam Hussein] had the intention and he had the capability and, if he was ever released from UN sanctions or the pressure that was being applied against him, I don't think any thinking person can believe he was suddenly going to decide, "I don't have to have this capability any more." Now, we have not found yet large stocks of weapons, so we don't yet know and can't establish what he had in the way of inventory, but what he had in the way of programs to generate inventory and what he had in the way of intentions is absolutely clear and so we stand by that."

"And a lot of the material I presented in February last was what happened to stocks of botulinum and anthrax. He wouldn't account for what happened. And so his failure to account condemned him right then and there to be in further material breach of his obligations."

CNN - Danish Army: Iraqi Shells WMD-free

Mortar shells found in Iraq and believed to be suspicious in fact contained no chemical agents, the Danish army said after a week of tests.

Yellowcake in Rotterdam Harbor May Be From Iraq

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — A recycling company found uranium oxide -- a radioactive material also known as yellowcake -- in a shipment of scrap steel it believes originally came from Iraq , the company said Thursday."

Nuclear experts say that although not highly radioactive, uranium oxide can be processed into enriched uranium usable in a nuclear weapon -- but highly advanced technology is needed.

Experts said that around 2 pounds of yellowcake, the amount found, would not be useful for either a bomb or fuel.

...he said there was no obvious non-nuclear industrial use for yellowcake and it would be strange to find it in random scrap metal.

Fox: Tests on Iraqi Shells Find No Chemical Agent

Mortar shells found in southern Iraq by the Danish military do not appear to contain chemical weapon agents as originally suspected, Fox News has learned.

"Some Iraqis have told Danish soldiers that other mortar shells were buried in the area, including a stockpile dumped in the Tigris River that could contain as many as 400 rounds," Gruenberger said.

NY Times: Hussein Warned Iraqis to Beware Outside Fighters, Document Says

Saddam Hussein warned his Iraqi supporters to be wary of joining forces with foreign Arab fighters entering Iraq to battle American troops, according to a document found with the former Iraqi leader when he was captured, Bush administration officials said Tuesday.

C.I.A. interrogators have already elicited from the top Qaeda officials in custody that, before the American-led invasion, Osama bin Laden had rejected entreaties from some of his lieutenants to work jointly with Mr. Hussein.

At the Pentagon, several officials believed that Iraq and Al Qaeda had found common ground in their hatred of the United States, while at the C.I.A., many analysts believed that Mr. bin Laden saw Mr. Hussein as one of the corrupt secular Arab leaders who should be toppled.

US Tests Old Iraq Shells For Chemical

Fourteen members of the Iraqi Survey Group, made up of intelligence analysts, interrogators and translators, will be testing the 120mm shells with a mobile laboratory at the Iraqi site over the next few days, Maj. Kim Gruenberger of the Danish Army Operational Command told The Associated Press.

They have been working since this morning," Gruenberger, who spoke from the Danish army's command center in Karup, 165 miles northwest of Copenhagen. He couldn't say when the results would be available.

Danish troops and Icelandic de-miners uncovered the shells Friday after receiving tips from local residents near Qurnah, north of the city of Basra, where Denmark's 410 soldiers are based.

Preliminary tests on the plastic-wrapped but damaged shells showed they contained a liquid blister agent. But initial tests by field troops are designed to favor a positive reading, erring on the side of caution to protect soldiers. More sophisticated tests are often necessary. Some Iraqis have told Danish soldiers that other mortar shells were buried in the area, including a stockpile dumped in the Tigris River that could contain as many as 400 rounds, Gruenberger said.

Slate: Liberal Hawks Reconsider the Iraq War

With the benefit of hindsight, do you still believe that the United States should have invaded Iraq in March 2003?

Weekly Standard: Cheney V. Powell - The vice president and the secretary of State appear to have conflicting opinions of the Iraq-al Qaeda connection

"I have not seen smoking-gun, concrete evidence about the connection. But I think the possibility of such connections did exist, and it was prudent to consider them at the time that we did."

"That was Secretary of State Colin Powell last Thursday. It was a curious comment, given that the administration had made an Iraq-al Qaeda connection an important, if ancillary, part of its case for war in Iraq. In fact, Powell himself had laid out some of the "concrete evidence" of the Iraq-al Qaeda connection himself in a presentation at the United Nations Security Council on February 5, 2003."

"[in February 2003]...Powell was emphatic. "It's not that we are trying to find a connection between al Qaeda and Iraq. It's there. It's not something we're making up--it's there and we can't fail to take note of it or to talk about it or report it."

"[Cheney:] "I can give you a few quick for instances [of a general link between Al Qaida and Iraq] --one, the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993. The main perpetrator was a man named Ramzi Yousef. He's now in prison in Colorado. His sidekick in the exercise was a man named Abdul Rahman Yasin . . . Ahman Rahman . . . Yasin is his last name anyway. I can't remember his earlier first names. He fled the United States after the attack, the 1993 attack, went to Iraq, and we know now based on documents that we've captured since we took Baghdad, that they put him on the payroll, gave him a monthly stipend and provided him with a house, sanctuary, in effect, in Iraq, in the aftermath of nine-ele . . . (sic) . . . the 93' attack on the World Trade Center."

"And you can look at Zarkawi, (Abu Mussab) al-Zarkawi, who is still out there operating today, who was an al-Qaida associate, who was wounded in Afghanistan, took refuge in Baghdad, working out of Baghdad, worked with the Ansar al Islam group up in northeastern Iraq, that produced a so-called poison factory, a group that we hit when we went into Iraq. They were involved in trying to smuggle things, manufacture and smuggle things like ricin into Europe to attack various targets in Europe with. He also, Zarkawi, was responsible for the assassination of a man named Foley, who worked for A.I.D. in Amman, Jordan, an American assigned over there."

"The links go back. We know for example from interrogating detainees in Guantanamo that al Qaida sent individuals to Baghdad to be trained in C.W. and B.W. technology, chemical and biological weapons technology. These are all matters that are there for anybody who wants to look at it. A lot of it has been declassified. More, I'm sure, will be declassified in the future, and my expectation would be as we get the time. We haven't really had the time yet to pore through all those records in Baghdad. We'll find ample evidence confirming the link--that is the connection, if you will, between al Qaida and the Iraqi intelligence services. They have worked together on a number of occasions."

Rocky Mountain News: Interview With Vice President Cheney

[The October 2002 Joint Intelligence Report] was the best information we had and I think the jury is still out in terms of how extensive a program Saddam Hussein had. We know he had had an extensive one in the past. We know he had produced, used chemical weapons. We know he had a robust nuclear program. We found that when we got in there after the '91 war. And the reporting that we had prior to the war this time around was all consistent with that -- basically said that he had a chemical, biological and nuclear program, and estimated that if he could acquire fissile material, he could have a nuclear weapon within a year or two. Based on that there wasn't any way the administration could ignore those findings of the intelligence community in terms of thinking about the threat that Saddam Hussein represented.

With respect to the other question, the general relationship [between Iraq and Al Qaida], I would refer you...There are several places you can go. One place you ought to go look is an article that Stephen Hayes did in the Weekly Standard here a few weeks ago, that goes through and lays out in some detail, based on an assessment that was done by the Department of Defense and forwarded to the Senate Intelligence Committee some weeks ago. That's your best source of information.

ChronWatch.com: "Syrian Journalist Reports Iraq's WMD Hidden In Syria" - by Dr. Steven Plaut

This report is from 2LA.org, is by Nizar Najoef, a senior Syrian journalist who defected from Syria to Western Europe. Nizar Najoef, a Syrian journalist who recently defected from Syria to Western Europe and is known for bravely challenging the Syrian regime, said in a letter Monday, January 5, to Dutch newspaper “De Telegraaf,” that he knows the three sites where Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) are kept. The storage places are:

-1- Tunnels dug under the town of al-Baida near the city of Hama in northern Syria. These tunnels are an integral part of an underground factory, built by the North Koreans, for producing Syrian Scud missiles. Iraqi chemical weapons and long-range missiles are stored in these tunnels.

-2- The village of Tal Snan, north of the town of Salamija, where there is a big Syrian airforce camp. Vital parts of Iraq's WMD are stored there.

-3-. The city of Sjinsjar on the Syrian border with the Lebanon, south of the city Homs.

Najoef writes that the transfer of Iraqi WMD to Syria was organized by the commanders of Saddam Hussein's Special Republican Guard, including General Shalish, with the help of Assif Shoakat , Bashar Assad's cousin. Shoakat is the CEO of Bhaha, an import/export company owned by the Assad family. In February 2003, a month before America's invasion in Iraq, very few are aware about the efforts to bring them from Iraq to Syria, and the personal involvement of Bashar Assad and his family in the operation. Najoef, who has won prizes for journalistic integrity, says he wrote his letter because he has terminal cancer.

Click here for Satellite Images of the Syrian WMD Locations.

CNN: Blair Defiant On Missing Iraqi WMD

Blair acknowledged Sunday the concern of critics that no illicit arsenal of weapons had yet been found, but said that weapons inspectors had found extensive evidence of clandestine operations and concealment operations.

Telegraph: Troops Find 'Chemical Weapons' Near Basra

British officials were called in yesterday to test a batch of liquid-filled mortar bombs found hidden in southern Iraq to discover if they could be chemical weapons.

Ali Nimir, a former colonel in a Republican Guard artillery unit, said: "I remember seeing boxes of these kinds of armaments in our base two years ago. We were told that they were chemical weapons."

"They made a splashing sound inside if you moved them around. From what I recall they were removed from our bases and distributed to secret hiding places around the country about a year before the war. I never saw them again."

NewsMax: Multiple Tests Confirming Iraq WMD Send Media Into Deep Spin

Mulitple tests conducted in Iraq by Danish and British experts indicate that Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction have finally been discovered, but mainstream news editors either ignored the story Sunday morning or are furiously spinning the news as inconsequential.

Reuters: Weapons found in Basra likely chemical - By Fiona O'Brien

Initial tests indicate blister gas present: BAGHDAD—Danish troops have found dozens of mortar rounds buried in Iraq which chemical weapons tests show could contain blister gas, the Danish army said yesterday. The initial tests, which have yet to be confirmed, were taken after Danish troops found 36 120-mm mortar rounds on Friday hidden in southern Iraq. The Danish army said the rounds had been buried for at least 10 years. "All the instruments showed indications of the same type of chemical compound, namely blister gas," the Danish Army operational command said on its Web site. "However, this will not be confirmed until the final tests are available," it said in a statement after the initial examination of liquid leaking from the weapons. Results of final tests were likely to be ready in about two days. Blister gas, an illegal weapon that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein said he had destroyed, was extensively used against the Iranians during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. Mustard gas, one of the best known of the blister agents, can remain toxic in the soil for decades. Although it can kill if it enters the lungs, blister gas is used mainly to weaken infantry by making the skin break out in excruciatingly painful blisters. Four different types of instrument were used on three of the mortar rounds, the army said in its statement, adding that 100 more rounds could be buried at the site north of Basra. Icelandic bomb specialists working with the Danish soldiers said the rounds had been found concealed in road construction, Iceland's Foreign Ministry said. It said a mobile U.S. chemical research laboratory has been sent to help.

CNN: Suspicious Shells Found In Southern Iraq

Danish troops have found suspicious mortar shells in southern Iraq that officials believe contain blister agents, the United States and Denmark announced Saturday. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, a U.S. Army spokesman, said Saturday that the 120 mm mortars were filled with liquid. The shells are at least 10 years old, and a U.S. Army official said he suspects the ordnance was surplus from the Iran-Iraq war in the mid-1980s. Blister agents are used in chemical weapons. A release on the Danish army operational command Web site said that in a routine collection of old ammunition, the 36 heavy mortar grenades were found in a dried-up marsh Friday. They were buried and packed in plastic.

Both the U.S. and British governments cited the threat of illicit weapons of mass destruction as a main reason for launching the Iraq war. However, no such weapons have been found so far.

CNN: Cabinet Members Defend Bush from O'Neill

[No WMDs] have been found [in Iraq], although searches have turned up evidence of continuing research on banned weapons.

Washington Times: Iraqi Shells Tested For Gas

Four different types of instruments were used on three of the mortar rounds, the army said in its statement, adding that 100 more rounds could be buried at the site.

Associated Press - Rice: no evidence saddam moved WMD to Syria

"The United States has no credible evidence that Iraq moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria early last year before the U.S.-led war that drove Saddam Hussein from power, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said Friday.

"But I want to be very clear: we don't, at this point, have any indications that I would consider credible and firm that that has taken place, but we will tie down every lead,'' she said at a White House briefing about Bush's trip Monday to a hemispheric summit in Mexico.

"We're going to follow every lead on what may have happened here,'' Rice said. "I don't think we are at the point that we can make a judgment on this issue. There hasn't been any hard evidence that such a thing happened."

Scotsman.com: 'Saddam's Chemical Weapons Were Smuggled Out of Iraq' - By James Lyons

"Saddam Hussein’s chemical and biological weapons were smuggled out of Iraq, a leading Syrian dissident claimed tonight. His weapons of mass destruction were hidden at three sites in Syria, said human rights campaigner Nijar Nijjof, who is now based in Paris. They were pin-pointed by a senior source inside Syrian Military Intelligence, Mr Nijjof told Channel Five News. The source revealed weapons were smuggled across the border in ambulances in the months before war, he said. “I knew this man during the last two years, he sent me much information,” said Mr Nijjof. “I discovered all his information was exactly 100% accurate or at least 90%.” The claims follow Syrian President Bashar Assad’s rejection of calls to renounce weapons of mass destruction in an interview published yesterday.

N.Y. TIMES: U.S. Withdraws a Team of Weapons Hunters From Iraq, By Douglas Jehl

The Bush administration has quietly withdrawn from Iraq a 400-member military team whose job was to scour the country for military equipment, according to senior government officials. The step was described by some military officials as a sign that the administration might have lowered its sights and no longer expected to uncover the caches of chemical and biological weapons that the White House cited as a principal reason for going to war last March. A separate military team that specializes in disposing of chemical and biological weapons remains part of the 1,400-member Iraq Survey Group, which has been searching Iraq for more that seven months at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. But that team is "still waiting for something to dispose of," said a survey group member.

Some of the government officials said the most important evidence from the weapons hunt might be contained in a vast collection of seized Iraqi documents being stored in a secret military warehouse in Qatar. Only a small fraction have been translated. The search for Iraqi weapons remains "the primary focus" of the survey group, a senior Defense Department official said. But he acknowledged that most of the dozens of new linguists and intelligence analysts to join the team had recently been given assignments related to combating the Iraqi insurgency rather than to the weapons search.

The cache of Iraqi documents cover subjects extending far beyond illicit weapons, according to senior military officials, and are so voluminous that, if stacked, they would rise 10 miles high, according to estimates by senior government officials. The warehouse in Qatar has become the center of work by the Defense Intelligence Agency to translate and analyze the documents, the officials said.

CNN: Powell on WMD existence: 'This game is still unfolding'

Secretary of State Colin Powell Thursday defended the Bush administration's position that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction programs and defended his speech on the matter to the United Nations last February. "This game is still unfolding," he told reporters.

He was responding to a study that found Iraq had ended its programs by the mid-1990s and did not pose an immediate threat to the United States before the 2003 war. Powell said he had not read the report but read news reports about it. The study, released Thursday, was conducted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a nonpartisan, respected group that opposed the war in Iraq.

The United States used the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction as a justification for launching the war against the regime of Saddam Hussein, according to the report. The report follows a nine-month search in Iraq for WMD -- nuclear, biological and chemical -- the key reason the administration cited in its decision to invade Iraq.

In this article, CNN shortened Secretary Powell's "That's a fact" statement, extended here: "The fact of the matter is Iraq did have weapons of mass destruction and programs for weapons of mass destruction and used weapons of mass destruction against Iran and against their own people. That's a fact," he added.

The secretary of state also said that his presentation to the United Nations last year made it clear that "we had seen some links and connections" between Iraq and terror groups "over time." "I have not seen smoking gun concrete evidence about the connection, but I think the possibility of some connections did exist and was prudent to consider them at the time that we did."

"We found nothing," the Canegie Study author Joseph Cirincione said. "There are no large stockpiles of weapons. There hasn't actually been a find of a single weapon, a single weapons agent, nothing like the programs that the administration believe existed."

Carnegie Endowment for Internatinal Peace: WMD In Iraq - Evidence and Implications (pdf)

This new study by Joseph Cirincione, Jessica T. Mathews and George Perkovich outlines policy reforms to improve threat assessments, deter transfer of WMD to terrorists, strengthen the UN weapons inspection process, and avoid politicization of the intelligence process.