Saddam WMD probe shut down
29/06/2007 18:32  - (SA)  

Want to know more? Answerit can help.

'Iraq not a threat before war' Saddam feared own army Bush has no regrets over Iraq US stops searching for WMD CIA official 'sacked over WMD' No WMDs when US attacked Blair insists Iraq wanted WMD 'Iraq never had WMD'

New York - The UN Security Council on Friday voted to shut down the UN programme that hunted for suspected weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, where no such weapons have been found.

The vote to shut down the work of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) was 14 in favour with only Russia abstaining.

UNMOVIC had been set up in 1999 under Security Council Resolution 1284 to verify that Iraq no longer had WMDs and had complied with its obligations not to acquire new proscribed arms.

UNMOVIC inspectors pulled out of Iraq on March 18 2003, immediately before the start of the US-led invasion, and were not allowed to return.

The work of hunting down Iraq's suspected WMDs was then taken over by a US-led coalition body, the Iraq Survey Group (ISG), but no weapons were found, seriously undermining what had been the major US and British argument for going to war.

Following the failure to find WMDs in Iraq after the end the US-led invasion in 2003, Washington had for the past two years pressed for an end to all related UN inspection work there.

What is this? Yahoo Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Brought to you by OUTsurance Car Insurance
	News24 Headlines on your Facebook profile		News24 on mobile