Report: No WMD stockpiles in Iraq

Iraq had no stockpiles of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons before last year’s US-led invasion, the chief US weapons inspector has concluded. {{more}}

Iraq Survey Group head Charles Duelfer said Iraq’s nuclear capability had decayed not grown since the 1991 war.

But in a 1,000-page report his group said Saddam Hussein (picture at left) intended to resume production of banned weapons when UN sanctions were lifted.

The US andUK used allegations of Iraqi WMDs as a key reason for going war.

But despite the lack of actual weapons, the White House said the report showed Saddam Hussein’s intent and capability and justifies the decision to go to war.

Democrats, on the other hand, used the report to attack the Bush administration, claiming the president misled the American people.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said that while he now accepted that Iraq held no stockpiles of WMD ready to be deployed at the time of the invasion, the report showed that UN sanctions had not been working.