US no closer to WMD

2003-07-31 10:38

Washington - The United States has so far been unsuccessful in obtaining any information on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction from Iraqi scientists being interviewed, The Washington Post said on Thursday.

Coinciding with an appearance in Congress on Thursday by Central Intelligence Agency's David Kay, who this week returned from Iraq where he is coordinating the hunt for WMDs, said no information has been gleaned from four top Iraqi scientists and more than a dozen at lower levels.

Regardless of the circumstances of their arrests or of any deal struck with US authorities, "all of the scientists interviewed have denied that (Iraqi President Saddam) Hussein had reconstituted his nuclear weapons programme or developed and hidden chemical or biological weapons since United Nations inspectors left in 1998," said the daily after speaking with senior US officials and lawmakers who were briefed on the subject.

The newspaper report comes a day after US President George W Bush, three months after the end of the Iraq War, said of Iraq's yet unfound WMDs: "I'm confident the truth will come out."

Several Iraqi scientists interrogated by US officials under CIA direction have questioned the significance of evidence cited by the Bush administration to suggest Hussein was stepping up efforts to develop WMD programs, the daily said.

US officials told the daily they expect Kay to tell the Senate Armed Services committee on Thursday that there have been no breakthroughs in Iraq, but that progress was being made in understanding Hussein's weapons programmes and research.

- AFP