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.