Former UN weapons inspector replaces David Kay as Iraq WMD adviser
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"His( Duelfer's) views contrast sharply with those of Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) who argued in an interview with National Public Radio this week that the discovery of two tractor trailers with equipment were "conclusive evidence" that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction programs.
Although the CIA presented the trailers as a likely mobile biological weapons lab after they were found last year, Kay in an interim report last October said that had not been corroborated." ..................................................................................
WASHINGTON (AFP) - CIA (news - web sites) director George Tenet named former UN weapons inspector Charles Duelfer to succeed David Kay to lead the search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, an effort that so far has failed to substantiate pre-war US claims.
"Given his knowledge of Iraqi weapons programs and his understanding of the nature and extent of Iraqi efforts to conceal these programs, I can think of no one better suited to carry on this very important work than Charlie Duelfer," Tenet said in announcing Kay's resignation.
He expressed confidence that Duelfer and the Iraq (news - web sites) Survey Group (ISG), the 1,400-member team assigned to track down Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, "will continue to make progress in the months ahead in determining the status of the former Iraqi regimes WMD programs."
Tenet also praised Kay, who will return to the private sector, for providing "a critical strategic framework that enabled the ISG to focus the hunt for information on Saddam's WMD programs."
The group has so far failed to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and scant evidence of active chemical, biological or nuclear programs at the time of the US-led invasion of Iraq last year.
The failure to find banned weapons or programs has become a major embarrassment for Washington, which made them the central element of its case for war against Iraq.
Kay, in a statement released by the Central Intelligence Agency (news - web sites), said, "While there are many unresolved issues, I am confident that the ISG will do everything possible to answer remaining questions about the former Iraqi regimes WMD efforts."
Duelfer, 51, said he was approaching his assignment "with an open mind and am absolutely committed to following the evidence wherever it takes."
As Tenet's special adviser on matters regarding Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs, Duelfer will direct the efforts of the Iraq Survey Group.
In Duelfer, Tenet has selected an American expert with deep experience in tracking Iraqi weapons of mass destruction programs but also one who in recent comments has expressed doubt that any weapons would ever be found.
"The prospect of finding chemical weapons, biological weapons is close to nil at this point," he said this month in an interview with PBS, the public television network.
"There has been every incentive in the world for the Iraqi people and the Iraqi scientists to come forward and say this is where the weapons are. That hasn't happened. So I think the problem right now is what is the extent of the problem and where was it headed? What were the intentions of the regime?"
From 1993 to 2000, Duelfer served as the number two in the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) formed to disarm Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites).
A former diplomat, he specialized in arms control and security issues over a ten year period prior to that at the State Department.
"He's intimately familiar with the whole issue of weapons of mass destruction, and should be able to come right up to speed," a defense official said.
His views contrast sharply with those of Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) who argued in an interview with National Public Radio this week that the discovery of two tractor trailers with equipment were "conclusive evidence" that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction programs.
Although the CIA presented the trailers as a likely mobile biological weapons lab after they were found last year, Kay in an interim report last October said that had not been corroborated.
Kay's interim findings fueled a still raging controversy over pre-war US intelligence estimates that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and whether the intelligence findings had been exaggerated by the administration to make its case for war.
The ISG, Kay reported, found no stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons.
Kay's team uncovered dozens of WMD-related program "activities," including a missile program, according to the October report, but little or no evidence of a capacity to produce chemical weapons and no evidence Iraq took significant steps after 1998 to produce nuclear weapons or fissile material.
Another interim report is scheduled to be made to Congress in February.
It was unclear whether that task will fall to Kay or his successor. |
