NEWS: No WMDs found, David Kay says
Associated Press
WASHINGTON--Chief U.S. weapons searcher David Kay reported Thursday he had found no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, a finding that brought fresh congressional complaints about the Bush administration's prewar assertions of an imminent threat from Saddam Hussein.
Kay, in a report to Congress, described evidence of a possible small-scale biological weapons effort, and said searchers had substantial evidence of an Iraqi push to boost the range of its ballistic missiles beyond prohibited ranges.
But his team had found only limited evidence of any chemical weapons effort, he said, and there was almost no sign that a significant nuclear weapons project was under way.
"We have not found at this point actual weapons," Kay said. "It does not mean we've concluded there are no actual weapons.
"In addition to intent, we have found a large body of continuing activities and equipment that were not declared to the U.N. inspectors when they returned in November of last year," he said.
He cautioned that the search was still under way and said he would know within six to nine months whether there was more to be found.
The lack of substantive findings so far brought immediate negative reactions from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
"I'm not pleased by what I heard today, but we should be willing to adopt a wait and see attitude, and that's the only alternative we really have," said Pat Roberts, R-Kan., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
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