• U.S. Report Finds Iraqis Eliminated Illicit Arms in 90's

• Saddam less of a threat in 2003 than in 1998

Destroying the Bush administration's main rationale for war against Iraq, the chief US weapons inspector declared yesterday that Saddam Hussein had neither weapons of mass destruction nor programmes to manufacture them at short notice when the US and its allies invaded in March 2003.Iraq had destroyed its illicit weapons stockpiles within months after the Persian Gulf war of 1991, and its ability to produce such weapons had significantly eroded by the time of the American invasion in 2003, the top American inspector for Iraq said in a report made public Wednesday. The report by the inspector, Charles A. Duelfer, intended to offer a near-final judgment about Iraq and its weapons, said Iraq, while under pressure from the United Nations, had "essentially destroyed'' its illicit weapons ability by the end of 1991, with its last secret factory, a biological weapons plant, eliminated in 1996.  He found  no evidence of any concerted effort by Iraq to restart the programs. The findings uphold Iraq's prewar insistence that it did not possess chemical or biological weapons.  [more ] and [more ] and [more ]

• Pictured above: "This photo is a composite of American soldiers who have died in Iraq over the last year. A picture is worth a thousand words. Or in this case, more than one thousand  lives."[more]
  

• SADDAM WAS CONTAINED: Duelfer found U.N. sanctions provided an "economic strangle hold" which successfully worked to keep Saddam from rebuilding or developing any weapons for twelve years. And the Washington Post reminds readers, "the inspectors left not because Iraq kicked them out but because the United States said it was about to launch an invasion and their safety could not be guaranteed." But in a speech in Pennsylvania yesterday, President Bush said Saddam Hussein "chose defiance and war [and] our coalition enforced the just demands of the world." The report actually shows the opposite, that the power of nonviolent international sanctions was working. [more ]
  
• Full Text: Final Report of U.S. Inspector [more ]
• Bush defends action against Iraq. US President George W Bush has said he was right to invade Iraq, despite confirmation that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction.  "I believe... America is safer today with Saddam Hussein in prison," he told reporters in Washington. And Mr Bush insisted that the former Iraqi leader retained the "intent" to produce WMD. Wednesday's report by the Iraq Survey Group has fuelled the debate about justification for last year's invasion. [more ]