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RUTBAH, Iraq - Frustrated weapons hunters are turning away from outdated U.S. intelligence leads, which have failed to turn up any evidence of chemical, biological or nuclear arms in Iraq after 10 weeks. Teams are now moving toward their own intelligence gathering, based on interviews with Iraqi scientists, factory workers and even neighbors who lived near shadowy operations once run by Saddam Hussein. The switch comes at a time of lowered expectations and increased frustration among the searchers. President Bush has said he began the war to disarm Saddam. But there has been no sign of either the ousted leader...

CAMP DOHA, Kuwait May 11 — U.S. weapons hunters empty-handed after seven weeks of field work are still operating without translators, have had almost no contact with Iraqi scientists and can't tell what's missing from looted sites where suspected weapons of mass destruction were thought to be hidden. Some of the problems are logistical. Others seem to be the result of limited manpower and expertise. In interviews with The Associated Press, military planners involved in the search said they were working to solve them. While the basic work structure will continue, they said, several elements are expected to improve now...

BAGHDAD -- The group directing all known U.S. search efforts for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is winding down operations without finding proof that President Saddam Hussein kept clandestine stocks of outlawed arms, according to participants.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top American officials in charge of running post-war Iraq are being relieved of their jobs in what U.S. officials said was part of a broad shake-up of U.S. operations in Iraq, the Washington Post reported on Sunday. Retired U.S. Gen. Jay Garner, who has overseen the rebuilding of Iraq for the Bush administration over the last three weeks, will be departing with some of his top aides, possibly within a week or two, the Post reported. Barbara Bodine, the American coordinator for central Iraq and the effective post-war mayor of Baghdad, will leave for Washington on...

washingtonpost.com Frustrated, U.S. Arms Team to Leave Iraq Task Force Unable To Find Any Weapons By Barton Gellman Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, May 11, 2003; Page A01 BAGHDAD -- The group directing all known U.S. search efforts for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is winding down operations without finding proof that President Saddam Hussein kept clandestine stocks of outlawed arms, according to participants. The 75th Exploitation Task Force, as the group is formally known, has been described from the start as the principal component of the U.S. plan to discover and display forbidden Iraqi weapons. The group's departure,...