After eight months with no discoveries, mission chief quits; Fewer than 40 of the 1,400 inspectors still in the field; 19 December 2003 After eight months of fruitless search, George Bush has in effect washed his hands of the hunt for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, in whose name the United States and Britain went to war last March. <b>David Kay, the CIA adviser who headed the US-led search for WMD, is to quit, before submitting his assessment to the US President in February.</b> The departure of Mr Kay, a strong believer in the case for toppling Saddam Hussein because of his alleged weapons, comes as a particular embarrassment to Tony Blair. This week he maintained that Mr Kay had uncovered "massive evidence" of a network of WMD laboratories. <b>For Mr Bush, the missing weapons are a politically charged issue. Pressed to explain why his administration had asserted Saddam possessed weapons, when at best fragmentary evidence of programmes had been found, Mr Bush replied: "So what's the difference? "If he were to acquire weapons, he would be the danger," he said in an interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer.</b> Mr Bush's public dismissal of the weapons issue is the latest move by Washington and London to change the justification for war. Weapons of mass destruction, and even weapons programmes, are no longer being put forward as the reason for the invasion. Senior US and British officials now dwell almost exclusively on the atrocities perpetrated by Saddam against his people, and the opportunity provided by his removal for a regeneration of the Middle East. Opinion polls point to the strategy working. The US public has forgotten what it was being told every day only nine months ago about the "imminent threat" the former Iraqi leader posed to the US, while the capture of Saddam last Saturday had boosted the President's approval ratings to a healthy 60 per cent-plus. Mr Kay's departure as head of the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) is said to be for family and personal reasons. He is not in Iraq at present but on holiday in Washington. Mr Kay himself sounds increasingly doubtful that chemical or biological weapons will be found, and is said to be resentful that the US military was less than helpful to his experts, preferring to prioritise the counter-insurgency. Publicly, Mr Kay insists, and points to his first interim report this autumn as proof, that the ISG has already unearthed evidence of ongoing weapons programmes. But he acknowledged on the BBC's Panorama programme three weeks ago he was prepared to be proved wrong that no weapons existed. Downing Street played down reports of Mr Kay's departure as "rumour, not fact", and denied that Mr Blair had given up hope that evidence of WMD would be found. Privately, British ministers cling to the hope of finding evidence of weapons programmes rather than the actual chemical or biological weapons systems. They hope Saddam's capture will end the "climate of fear" among Iraqi scientists and enable them to be honest about his regime. This week Mr Blair was accused by the Tories and Lib Dems of "spinning" the ISG's interim report after he said they had "found massive evidence of a huge system of clandestine laboratories, workings by scientists, plans to develop long range ballistic missiles". The ISG, set up in June, has a nominal staff of 1,400 specialists, analysts and translators, all theoretically dedicated to the search for WMD. But the numbers in the field have been less: two teams of 20 at most. In October, the group's strength dwindled further when Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary, ordered many personnel to be transferred to the regular forces to help counter the growing rebellion. Despite the capture and interrogation of many senior Iraqi officials, there has been no breakthrough. Saddam is said to have told investigators what Iraq told the UN before the invasion: that it no longer had banned weapons. But the seizure of Saddam has given some American officials new hope that banned materials will be found. Peter Kilfoyle, a former Defence minister, said Saddam's capture had not relieved the pressure on Mr Blair for weapons to be tracked down. The former deputy chief UN weapons inspector Charles Duelfer said: "What is important is Saddam's intentions. The case can be made that he may not have had existing weapons, but his intention was to outlast the inspectors and reconstruct his weapons capabilities." http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=474598
More on the story! ----------------- Head of U.S. Team Searching for Iraq Arms May Leave By Adam Entous WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a potential setback to the so far fruitless hunt for weapons of mass destruction in, the head of the U.S. search team, David Kay, told administration officials he is considering leaving the job as early as next month, U.S. officials said on Thursday. Though Kay cited family obligations, officials described the former U.N. nuclear weapons inspector as frustrated -- no banned weapons have been found despite months of searching and some of Kay's staff have been diverted to helping combat Iraqi insurgents. Kay and his team were sent to Iraq to locate the weapons that were cited by President Bush and his top advisers as the main justification for invading. An announcement could come as early as next week, one official said. Officials said Kay, who is directing the weapons search as an adviser to the CIA , could step down before his Iraq Survey Group issues its next interim report slated for February. Kay met with CIA officials earlier this week and will hold a follow-up meeting, most likely next week, "to discuss next steps," including his tenure, an official said. He may not return to Baghdad after the Christmas and New Year's holiday. "That's yet to be determined," one official said. Critics blamed the Bush administration for undercutting the search for weapons and warned that Kay's departure could further undermine the effort. Former U.N. weapons inspector David Albright, now head of the Institute for Science and International Security, said some of the investigators on Kay's team might say to themselves, "Kay's not sticking around. Why should I?" But White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the weapons hunt was an "important priority" for the administration whether Kay stays or goes. "Regardless, the work of the Iraq Survey Group continues and they will complete that work," he said. In an interview earlier this week with ABC News, Bush brushed aside questions about whether Iraq had possessed banned weapons -- as his administration asserted before the war to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who was captured on Saturday -- or was merely pursuing weapons programs. "So what's the difference?" Bush responded. HIGH HOPES When he took the job in June, officials said, Kay had fully expected to quickly find evidence to back up the administration's prewar claims about Iraqi weapons. But in a preliminary report in October, his team found no stockpiles of biological or chemical weapons. "When he (Kay) signed up, I don't think that he envisioned that it would take quite as much time and effort and that the security situation would be quite what it is," a U.S. official said. "And there is some pressure back here on the home front," the U.S. official added, referring to Kay's family obligations. Officials said Kay was also unhappy that some members of his team were shifted to the counter-insurgency front. "So he doesn't have all of the assets he would like to have. Nobody does," the U.S. official said. The Survey Group plans to issue its next interim report in February and its final report next fall. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031219/wl_nm/iraq_usa_wmd_dc_7
i dont know, but if some woman brings this up at a bar... just go "I'll search for YOUR weapons, baby! OW!" ..............works
It seems America has completely forgotten the reason we had to go to war --- no evidence what so ever of any WMD.
For Mr Bush, the missing weapons are a politically charged issue. Pressed to explain why his administration had asserted Saddam possessed weapons, when at best fragmentary evidence of programmes had been found, Mr Bush replied: "So what's the difference? "If he were to acquire weapons, he would be the danger," he said in an interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer. I think GWB's free ride is over. The Dem prez candidates, especially Dean, are not going to let GWB's answer to the above question ride. Methinks GWB will need to redefine "imminent" before this debate goes away.
OK,let me avert a bunch of long pointless rehash posts from the usual suspects before it happened: 1. Bush himself never techincally used the word "imminent" 2. However, he used many similar terms (urgent, peril, danger, etc) and a few administration officials were even more descriptive.
A pre-emptive war requires imminent danger. I am sure that the Bush Admin mentioned the word pre-emptive.
They were in danger of not having a platform to run on for the reelection campaign, bada bing bada boom.
I much prefer your "zinger" over your "articles." That was funny. Maybe the dude is "to quit" because they found something solid and he's no longer needed to look? Now that's even funnier.
Search to continue... possibly. ============================= US Republicans signal readiness to resume Iraq weapons probe 2 hours, 12 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Senate Republicans have signaled their readiness to resume a probe into pre-war charges that Iraq (news - web sites) had weapons of mass destruction, which was halted more than six weeks ago amid bitter partisan bickering. "I think we will have, hopefully, some public hearings by February," announced Pat Roberts, chairman of the US Senate intelligence committee, appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation" program. "We will get those questions out." US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) and other top administration officials had accused Iraq of secretly producing chemical and biological weapons in violation of UN resolutions -- charges that were used to justify the March invasion of the country. No banned weapons have been found in Iraq since then, despite an intense search by a team of experts from the Pentagon (news - web sites) and the Central Intelligence Agency (news - web sites). The Senate committee had been revisiting the US intelligence dossier and looking into whether the Bush administration twisted data to suit its goal of regime change in Iraq. But hearings into the matter were suspended in early November, after Senate Republicans, citing a leaked Democratic strategy paper, accused Democrats of trying to exploit the investigation for political gain. Now, striking a conciliatory posture, Roberts said he had been working with the ranking committee Democrat, Senator John Rockefeller, and other members to defuse the standoff. He did not repeat previous Republican demands that Democrats disavow their strategy paper, identify its author and present a formal apology for allegedly trying to manipulate the probe. The apparent change of heart came after the CIA (news - web sites) acknowledged late last month that it "lacked specific information" about alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction when it compiled a 2002 intelligence estimate that served to justify the invasion. Congressional Republicans also found themselves under renewed pressure last week after Bush, when asked in a television interview to clarify whether he had hard facts about Iraqi weapons or just feared Baghdad may acquire them, replied: "So what's the difference?" Senator Carl Levin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee (news - web sites), said the remark was "a stunning revelation" of Bush's "thinking and of his decision to go to war." "There is a huge difference between having something and seeking something," the lawmaker observed. Democratic Senator Joseph Biden said it was important to complete the Iraqi weapons review to maintain US credibility in the world at large. "The idea that we're going to go in next time and say, by the way, Kim Jong Il in North Korea (news - web sites)'s about to do the following, who the heck's going to believe us?" Biden asked in a CBS interview. But General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed confidence the weapons of mass destruction will be eventually found the same way US troops caught up with deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) -- through cooperation of Iraqi individuals. "The same thing's going to be true in WMD," Myers assured in an interview with "Fox News Sunday." link
This pretty much discredits all the WMD crap spread by the Bushies as justification for the war. Unless documentation counts as WMD. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60340-2004Jan6.html . . . David Kay, who directs the weapons hunt on behalf of the Bush administration, reported no discoveries last year of finished weapons, bulk agents or ready-to-start production lines. Members of his Iraq Survey Group, in unauthorized interviews, said the group holds out little prospect now of such a find. Kay and his spokesman, who report to Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet, declined to be interviewed. . . . Taha, according to the same debriefing account, said Iraq had no access to smallpox. Ali's research halted after 45 days, with the August 1990 outbreak of war in Kuwait, and did not resume. And Taha, like all those in custody, continues to assert that biowar programs ceased entirely the following year. . . . Survey group scientists discovered no sign of pox research save at the Baghdad College of Veterinary Medicine, which declared the work to U.N. inspectors in 2002. Researchers there were manipulating the viruses that cause goatpox and sheeppox, in well-documented efforts to develop vaccines. U.S. investigators arrested Antoine Banna, the Cornell-trained dean, but soon released him. Much the same result followed a probe of avian virus research at the Ghazi Institute. . . . Investigators also searched for what one of them termed "starter sets" of pathogens, laboratory samples that could be used for later production. For each suspected weapon, the investigators carried a supply of "labeled antibodies," a classified technology used in field kits that resemble home pregnancy tests. "We didn't find anything, so certainly not anything engineered," a coalition scientist said. Team Pox, as the group of investigators dubbed itself, eventually dropped the chimera investigation. . . .
All this does is reinforce what Bush has been saying. We arent going to find any WMD by searching for them. Its going to take specific intellegence to lead us to where they are. So possibly, we have given up on the searching for the needle in the haystack phase and are concentrated on the intelligence gathering that will give us leads on where they are.
US Republicans signal readiness to resume Iraq weapons probe At least until after Nov 2004. All this does is reinforce what Bush has been saying. We arent going to find any WMD by searching for them. Its going to take specific intellegence to lead us to where they are. Gotta love it. No need to have searched!? Bush told us that!!? Of course then we didn't need the war. Is there any limit to the gullibility of some people and their need to believe that Bush and American leaders act only from the purest of motives because our country is always the good guy with the most decent motives?
I have a close family member who is in Iraq and was involved in the initial search. It was planned from the beginning that the search was to be multi phased. Just because one phase has ended, or at least tapered, doesnt mean the search doesnt continue on other fronts.
Is there any limit to the gullibility of some people and their need to believe that Bush and American leaders act only from the purest of motives because our country is always the good guy with the most decent motives? No, there is not.
How cynical is it to think that people who disagree with you are just gullible beyond belief. I don't think the US operates out of only the pur<b>est</b> motives. We are not entirely self-sacrificing, but we are self-sacrificing. There is no doubt about that. I expect my nation to balance the needs of self-interest and service to the world. That means that someone will always be a critic, though, so in reality we just have to live with that. I could spend a long time listing the nations who have never done squat for the US-- except to allow some of their finest citizens to emigrate here perhaps. It would be much easier to make a list of nations that have <b>not been</b> the beneficiary of US generosity.
Going along with the Post article cited by Woofer, here's the best evidence of WMD's so far... These are some of Modher Sadeq-Saba Tamimi's secret sketches for two illegal long-range missiles, one using two engines and one using five boosters.
