U.S.IraqWorldPoliticsSciTechHealthWatchEntertainmentOpinionFREE CBS News Video |
| Jan. 15, 2005 6:43pm ET |  |  The Early Show CBS Evening News 48 Hours 60 Minutes (SUN) 60 Minutes (WED) | All Broadcasts |
 | • Section Front |
E-mail This Story
Printable VersionSearch For Iraq WMDs Ends
Jan. 12, 2005
 
 |
(CBS/AP) The
White House says the United States is no longer actively searching for
the weapons of mass destruction that President Bush often pointed to as
he made his case for war, reports CBS News White House Correspondent Peter Maer.
Chief weapon hunter Charles Duelfer is expected to make only small additions to his October report that found Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programs had deteriorated into only hopes and dreams by the time of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, says White House spokesman Scott McClennan.
The decline in the weapons program was wrought by the first Gulf War and years of international sanctions, the report concluded.
Violence in Iraq and an absence of new information prompted Duelfer's team to return home before Christmas, the Washington Post reports.
Duelfer's findings contradicted nearly all of the assertions by the Bush administration about Iraq's threat in 2002 and early 2003.
What ambitions Saddam harbored for such weapons were secondary to his goal of evading those sanctions, and he wanted them primarily not to attack the United States or to provide them to terrorists, but to oppose his older enemies, Iran and Israel, the report found.
Duelfer's Iraq Survey Group drew on interviews with senior Iraqi officials, 40 million pages of documents and classified intelligence to conclude that Iraq destroyed its undeclared chemical and biological stockpiles under pressure of U.N. sanctions by 1992 and never resumed production.
Iraq ultimately abandoned its biological weapons programs in 1995, largely out of fear they would be discovered and tougher enforcement imposed.
"Indeed, from the mid-1990s, despite evidence of continuing interest in nuclear and chemical weapons, there appears to be a complete absence of discussion or even interest in BW at the presidential level," according to a summary of Duelfer's 1,000-page report.
Chief weapon hunter Charles Duelfer is expected to make only small additions to his October report that found Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programs had deteriorated into only hopes and dreams by the time of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, says White House spokesman Scott McClennan.
The decline in the weapons program was wrought by the first Gulf War and years of international sanctions, the report concluded.
Violence in Iraq and an absence of new information prompted Duelfer's team to return home before Christmas, the Washington Post reports.
Duelfer's findings contradicted nearly all of the assertions by the Bush administration about Iraq's threat in 2002 and early 2003.
What ambitions Saddam harbored for such weapons were secondary to his goal of evading those sanctions, and he wanted them primarily not to attack the United States or to provide them to terrorists, but to oppose his older enemies, Iran and Israel, the report found.
Duelfer's Iraq Survey Group drew on interviews with senior Iraqi officials, 40 million pages of documents and classified intelligence to conclude that Iraq destroyed its undeclared chemical and biological stockpiles under pressure of U.N. sanctions by 1992 and never resumed production.
Iraq ultimately abandoned its biological weapons programs in 1995, largely out of fear they would be discovered and tougher enforcement imposed.
"Indeed, from the mid-1990s, despite evidence of continuing interest in nuclear and chemical weapons, there appears to be a complete absence of discussion or even interest in BW at the presidential level," according to a summary of Duelfer's 1,000-page report.
©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
 | ||||
 | Graner Gets Ten Years Faced Up To 15; Said Superiors Ordered His Abu Ghraib Actions | • Join The Dark Side, Spud • Iraq: No-Drive Zone During Voting? • Refined Grain Further Out Of Favor • Social Security Debate Ratchets Up | ||
 | ||||
 | Iraq: No-Drive Zone During Voting? Gov't May Ban Private Vehicles For 3 Days To Curb Car Bombing Odds | • Graner Gets Ten Years • Dangerous Skies Over Iraq • Search For Iraq WMDs Ends • Oil-For-Food Audits Called Unclear | ||
• Help • Advertise • Contact Us • Terms of Service • Privacy Policy
• CBS News Bios • Internships
©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
• CBS News Bios • Internships
©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 |
|
 |
|
| • World • War On Terror |
|
 | ||
 |
| |
 | ||
| ||
| ||
 |
| |
| ||
| ||
| Search: |
Sign up: E-Mail Alerts RSS Feeds