U.S. ends search for WMDs
By Associated Press |
Thursday, January 13, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has quietly concluded without any evidence of the banned weapons that President Bush cited as justification for going to war, the White House said Wednesday. Democrats said Bush owes the country an explanation of why he was so wrong.
The Iraq Survey Group, made up of some 1,200 military and intelligence specialists and support staff, spent nearly two years searching military installations, factories and laboratories whose equipment and products might be converted quickly to making weapons.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said there no longer is an active search for weapons and the administration does not hold out hopes that any weapons will be found. "There may be a couple, a few people, that are focused on that" but that it has largely concluded, he said.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said Bush should explain what happened. "Now that the search is finished, President Bush needs to explain to the American people why he was so wrong, for so long, about the reasons for war," she said.
Chief U.S. weapons hunter Charles Duelfer is to deliver his final report on the search next month.
It's quite a contentious issue in some circles. Before the war I never thought Saddam had any nuclear weapons or nuclear program whatsoever, and I was highly skeptical of chemical and biological weapons inventories. I also predicted extensive U.S. casualties in a post-invasion guerrilla war, having some familiarity with the military preferences of Arabs in general and Iraqis specifically. That didn't win me many brownie points with friends and family, or my boss, but that's the breaks.