Bush administration in denial about lack of Iraq WMD: Kay
WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (AFP) - President George W. Bush's administration is in denial over the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before the US-led invasion in 2003, ex-chief US arms inspector David Kay said Thursday.
A report by the Iraq Survey Group that Kay ran until he quit at the start of the year found Iraq had no chemical, biological or nuclear weapons when Bush was saying that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was a growing threat.
The White House has insisted Saddam was a threat to the United States and had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) capability, but Kay told NBC television: "All I can say is 'denial' is not just a river in Egypt."
"The report is scary enough without misrepresenting what it says," he added.
Iraq "was not an imminent and growing threat because of its own weapons of mass destruction," he added.
"Look, Saddam was delusional. He had a lot of intent. He wanted to be Saladin the Great, of the Middle East yet again. He wanted to put Iraq in a preeminent position to remove the US from the region," Kay added.
"He had a lot of intent. He didn't have capabilities. Intent without capabilities is not an imminent threat."
"There is the issue that remains as to whether the scientists and engineers living in the chaotic, corrupt situation in Iraq might have transferred individually technology to terrorists," he said.
But "that was not the case the administration made."
Saddam gave some information to US interrogators which was used for the report, but Kay said "it's not very credible without further collaboration."
The survey group produced an interim report in January just before Kay stood down from the US and British group hunting Iraq's alleged WMD program.
"There is no difference in terms of major conclusions. We concluded there were no weapons there; that, in fact, he had intentions but no plans; that the capability was seriously eroded; and, in fact, that clandestine procurement had continued with the assistance of countries and companies in violation of UN sanctions," Kay said. |
