Top weapons hunter in Iraq doubts claims:Chicago Trib

[jbfam4]

Top weapons hunter in Iraq doubts claims
CIA official quits, cites cut in resources

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0401240176jan24,1,479386.story?coll=chi-news-hed
By Cam Simpson
Washington Bureau
Published January 24, 2004

WASHINGTON -- The CIA's chief weapons hunter resigned Friday, saying he did not believe the stockpiles of deadly weapons used by the White House as a major justification to invade Iraq existed before the war.

In an interview with Reuters news agency, David Kay said physical evidence, documents and interviews with former regime officials have left him convinced that the feared stockpiles never existed.


"We remain confident that weapons of mass destruction will be found," an administration official said Friday night, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official also said there is clear evidence Saddam Hussein's regime was in violation of United Nations' resolutions.

The CIA announced Kay's resignation Friday afternoon, saying only that he was leaving for personal reasons.

Kay's departure and publicly stated belief that stockpiles didn't exist come after nine months of unsuccessful searching for the weapons that Bush administration officials said had been hidden throughout Iraq.

Kay's actions also come as members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are set to receive a draft report from their investigators finding "serious concerns" with the prewar intelligence on the weapons programs, a top official familiar with that draft said Friday.


So he resigned on Friday.....before Bush* gave his SOTU. Kay better not fly in any small planes.

[peachy]

1. Powell Casts Doubts on Iraq WMDs

Published on Saturday, January 24, 2004 by the BBC
Powell Casts Doubt on Iraq WMDs


US Secretary of State Colin Powell has conceded that Iraq may not have possessed any stocks of weapons of mass destruction before the war last year.

His comments came after the former head of the US weapons inspection team, David Kay, said he did not believe there were any weapons stockpiles.

Mr Powell was speaking on his way to the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Less than a year ago, Mr Powell warned the United Nations Security Council about the danger from Iraq's weapons.

In the run-up to the US-led war against Iraq, he gave a presentation to the Security Council in which he asserted that Saddam Hussein had amassed secret weapons of mass destruction.

He said then that he believed Iraq possessed, among other things, between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agents.

But in his latest remarks, he told reporters traveling with him that it was an "open question" whether Iraq had any stocks of weapons of mass destruction at all.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0124-01.htm


Any chance that Powell will break down and confess that he knew he was lying in his presentation to the UN?

[dennis4868]

2. If the media had any...

objectivity they would be demanding that Bush be held accountable for this mess!