Aznar Rules Out Weapons of Mass Destruction Inquiry

[kskiska]

MADRID, Spain (AP) - Spain, an outspoken U.S. ally on Iraq, has no immediate plans to investigate why the government believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, a government official said Thursday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was responding to a report Thursday in El Pais that Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's government had drafted a three-page internal document ruling out a probe into the government's grounds for supporting the U.S.-led war.

In the document, the government justifies its support for invading based on reports by United Nations' weapons inspectors, U.N. resolutions and Spain's national interest, El Pais said.

Aznar's office Thursday declined to confirm or deny the existence of the document. The official told The Associated Press only that Spain has "no plans for now" to launch an investigation.

El Pais said the document argues that because Spain based its decision on U.N. suspicions of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction - not its own intelligence or any other country's - it was not Spain's responsibility to probe why weapons have not been found.

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http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAAN5L4BQD.html

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

1. Is this some kind of sick joke.

I'm shocked that such a wonderful law abiding official like Mr Maria would never do such a thing.

[ugarte]

2. Gimme a break

Like Spain's 'intelligence service' even had a filing cabinet, much less a presence in Iraq. If they were lucky, they got a Xeroxed CIA report.