["This is a refinement of the doctrine of 'preventive war'" -- I'll say. Now we're literally saying it's legitimate to wage preventive war against thought crimes. We have clearly lost all capacity for shame.]
Financial Times; May 03, 2003
FRONT PAGE - FIRST SECTION: Iraqi arms finds not likely, says US official
By Guy Dinmore and James Harding in Washington
Saddam Hussein appears to have shut down or destroyed large parts of his unconventional weapons programmes before the war in Iraq, a senior Bush administration official who has been closely involved in the quest to purge Iraq of weapons of mass destruction said this week.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he would be "amazed if we found weapons-grade plutonium or uranium" and it was unlikely large volumes of biological or chemical material would be discovered. He suggested that the sanctions and UN inspections probably prompted Mr Hussein to dispose of much of his stockpile.
"The biological weapons stuff is easy to destroy," he said, adding that chemical agents might have been dumped inthe desert.
The disclosure will fuel criticism in Britain - and particularly among Labour backbenchers - about the failure to unearth a "smoking gun". The government made the need to find and destroy Mr Hussein's weapons of mass destruction the main justification for war.
President George W. Bush also repeatedly justified the use of force against Iraq, arguing that Mr Hussein's deadly weapons could threaten its neighbours and fall into the hands of terrorists who might strike the US. The failure to find evidence of an Iraqi weapons programme has led to speculation that no such programme existed.
The senior administration official insisted the US never expected to find a huge arsenal. He said the US was more concerned by Mr Hussein's team of 1,000 scientists, whom he termed "nuclear mujahadeen". These scientists, he argued, could have restarted Iraq's weapons programme once the crisis passed.
The comments mark a refinement in the controversial concept of a "preventive war", according to which the Bush administration is willing to take pre-emptive military action against a country that has deadly weapons in mass quantities. It suggests instead that the administration will act against a hostile regime that has nothing more than the intent and ability to develop such weapons.
Even recently US and UK officials have insisted the US will eventually find deadly weapons.
Mr Blair said this week he had "no doubt" that the allies would find them, while Richard Armitage, US deputy secretary of state, said on Wednesday: "We will find evidence of Iraq's weapons soon."
Additional reporting by Cathy Newman in London