400 WEAPONS INSPECTORS TO QUIT IRAQ
8 January 2004

Some 400 weapons experts and search specialists are to be leaving Iraq, though an inspection force does remain, including specialists in the disposal of chemical and biological agents. A Washington Post report noted that there was intelligence to indicate that Iraq may have destroyed its stockpiles as early as 1991.

The New York Times also reported that a pattern of deceit within the weapons programs themselves (from a desire for personal advancement and to please the dictator) may be responsible for inflated expectations on the part of outside observers. The survey group in charge of the weapons search has diverted some of its linguists and specialists to counter-insurgency, and the head of the survey group, David Kay, has previously said he may step down. [For more: FT]

UPDATES:
NO WMD, JUSTIFICATIONS FOR WAR IN QUESTION
26 January 2004

David Kay, chief weapons inspector for the Iraq Survey Group, who recently left his post, reports there was no evidence to indicate the presence of any weapons of mass destruction, any stockpiles, or any competent programs to develop such weapons. Kay said evidence was found that indicated there had been programs in the past, but that it appeared that all the weapons had been destroyed, and that the programs were in disarray, and no production facilities existed. He said his research was significantly complicated by post-war security lapses, which allowed looting of government facilities, including military and industrial sites. [Full Story]

WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
30 January 2004

In a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Sen. Levin cited Donald Rumsfeld as saying on 11 March 2003, one week before the war: "we know he continues to hide biological and chemical weapons, moving them to different locations as often as every 12 to 24 hours, and placing them in residential neighborhoods." The issue is how statements of such certainty had been made when new revelations indicate there was no reliable intelligence on which to base irrefutable affirmations of WMD in Iraq. [Full Story]