87 WMD SITES ARE CLEARED
Jun 4 2003
Exclusive by Gary Jones And Tom Newton Dunn
TROOPS hunting for Saddam's weapons of mass destruction have searched 87 "prime" sites in Iraq - and have found nothing.
Nineteen were "highest-priority" zones identified by US Central Command, military sources revealed yesterday.
But instead of chemical or biological weapons, searchers uncovered a training facility for Iraq's Olympic swimming and diving teams, a drinks distillery and a factory making car licence plates.
Last night more pressure was piled on Tony Blair when the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee announced an inquiry into the WMD controversy.
The Prime Minister faces being grilled in public by MPs about whether he misled Parliament over Saddam Hussein's weapons.
Mr Blair, who today announced another inquiry by MPs on the Intelligence and Security Committee also faced a storm of fury at Prime Minister's Question Time.
The PM is sending in 100 military specialists will now join a new American-led hunt for weapons evidence, after the apparent failure of the current search. The 87 sites given the all-clear were targeted by the coalition, acting on specific intelligence reports. A military source said: "They found precisely nothing."
The searchers were from the 200-strong, mainly US 75th Exploitation Group - made up of military personnel, the CIA, the Defence Intelligence Agency, the FBI, and a British contingent.
One suspected underground chemical weapons stash at the Malab Ashab Chemical Co. was opened up, said sources, and a swimming pool exposed.
SEARCH: Inspector in Iraq looks for weapons
The Al Hayat site, ranked 26th out of 87 and described as a possible Saddam-run Special Security Organisation facility, turned out to house a collection of vacuum cleaners.
Another target was the Al Salk chemical site. A raiding party discovered it was a family-owned distillery, making a liqueur.
Worse was to follow, according to military sources. A feared weapons store was, in fact, a US artillery HQ.
Even an intelligence tip on a secret hoard of documents backfired. Files reported removed from a chemical lab were simply a thesis by a graduate student frightened his work might be destroyed.
Originally a list of more than 900 suspect sites had been drawn up, where WMDs or evidence of such programmes might be found. US Central chiefs listed 19 major targets.
A second list of 68 top "non-WMD sites" - where incriminating documents were expected to be recovered and which gave support to terrorists - was also drawn up, taking the total to 87.
RAF wing commander Sebastian Kendall had the task of planning the hunt from the US and British land forces' HQ in Kuwait.
He said he had focused on priority sites, where analysts had assessed there was a "high probability" of finding a link to WMD.
Wing Cdr Kendall later admitted on April 20: "We started off with a list. It is true that the environment is changing based on reality."
The stark failures at the top of the list have led to the Exploitation Group's work being scaled back, with fewer than 300 of the 900 targets inspected.
Now a fresh investigation will be launched by the 1,400-strong Iraqi Survey Group, based in Baghdad and reporting directly to Washington.
It is expected to focus on interrogation of Iraqi scientists.
One former UN inspector, asked if he would like to help, said: "There's not a lot left to search. We've been told we wouldn't be rummaging around buildings, and it's likely to be a paper chase.
"Interviewing Iraqi scientists is perceived the key to opening up the secrets, if there are any, of Saddam's weapons." |
