http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=4227291. Iraq's weapons
Serious doubts were raised yesterday about whether Saddam Hussein possessed the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) on which Tony Blair and George Bush rested their case for war in Iraq.
In a damaging finding for Mr Blair, an inquiry by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee concluded that "the jury is still out" on the accuracy of the Government's dossier on Iraq's weapons, issued last September.
The MPs warned: "Continuing disquiet and unease about the claims made in the September dossier are unlikely to be dispelled unless more evidence of Iraq's WMD programmes comes to light."
The committee challenged the Government, which must respond in detail to the report in two months, to say whether it still believed the document was accurate "in the light of subsequent events" - the failure yet to find WMD.
Although Mr Blair believes evidence that Saddam possessed WMD will be found, senior MPs warned that time was running out. Sir John Stanley, a Tory member of the committee, said: "The longer the period during which no WMD are found on the scale indicated in that September dossier, the longer the period when there is also no evidence that such weapons have been destroyed, the greater is going to be the concern - not only in this committee and in Parliament but also among the British people."
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