1/12/2005
WASHINGTON, Jan 12 (AFP) - The United States has stopped searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq -- one of its key reasons for invading the country -- and a report saying there are no such weapons to find there will likely stand, the White House confirmed Wednesday.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that for the Iraq Survey Group, which was leading the search for nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, "a lot of their mission is focused elsewhere now."
McClellan said a report authored by the survey group's head, Charles Duelfer, which is to be released to the US Congress in the coming weeks, will be similar to a September draft in which he said there were no such weapons.
"(Duelfer) is continuing to wrap things up at this point. ... My understanding is that it is not going to fundamentally alter the findings of his earlier report," McClellan said.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq ended before Christmas.
Duelfer's report to Congress said that deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had the intent but not the capacity to make weapons of mass destruction.
The report contradicted the US government's chief publicly stated reason for overthrowing Saddam's regime.
McClellan recalled that US President George W. Bush decided in October, after Duelfer's first report, to revamp US intelligence operations.
"The president made it clear back in October that we need to make sure that we get the best possible intelligence," McClellan said. "We had a 12-year accumulated body of evidence we had, and our allies had, that was wrong, and we must correct the flaws."