Baghdad posed no nuclear threat, says US-led team

Iraq: The US-led team investigating Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction has concluded that Baghdad did not pose a nuclear threat as claimed by the US to justify its pre-emptive war.

In an article published yesterday, the Washington Post revealed that investigators found "the central assertions of the Bush administration's pre-war nuclear case to be insubstantial or untrue".

US, British and Australian members of the team, led by Dr David Kay, a former UN inspector, said "it is now clear [Saddam Hussein] had no active programme to build a weapon, produce its key materials or obtain the technology needed for either".

They told the Post, "Iraq's nuclear weapons scientists did no significant arms-related work after 1991" when the Iraqis said the programme was shut down. Australian Brig Gen Stephen Meekin went on record to say that aluminium tubes, which the Bush administration argued had been obtained to construct centrifuges for enriching uranium for weapons, "were used for rockets", as the Iraqis claimed. He said that the tubing, on which the administration had built its case that Iraq had revived its nuclear programme, had been looted from at least one unguarded site and may have been sold "as drain pipe" or scrap metal.

Meanwhile, a survey published on Saturday by the US administration in Iraq showed that 67 per cent of Iraqis view the US as an occupier, an increase over 46 per cent in April following the ouster of Saddam. The poll, conducted by the Iraqi Centre for Research and Strategic Studies on behalf of the US State Department, revealed that the number of Iraqis regarding US forces as liberators fell from 43 per cent to 15 per cent; 46 per cent said the security situation had deteriorated while 23 per cent said it has improved.

Ninety-five per cent favour free and fair elections, 89 per cent favour power-sharing between Arabs and Kurds and religious groups, 71 per cent equality for women and 56 per cent participation of religious leaders in politics. Only 36 per cent approved of roles for former exiled politicians. Ninety-eight per cent want leaders with qualifications and expertise but 61 per cent said they do not find their current leaders trustworthy.

Three Shia leaders, Mr Abdel Aziz Hakim, Shaikh Muhammad Bahr Uloom and Mr Ibrahim Jafari, secured ratings between 56-58 per cent. The Sunni secular figure, Dr Adnan Pachachi, had an approval rating of 41 per cent. The favourite of the Bush administration, Mr Ahmad Chalabi, received a negative rating of 35 per cent as compared with a positive rating of 26 per cent. Overall, 33 per cent of Iraqis prefer an Islamic state while 30 per cent favour a Western-type democracy.

When asked which was the best model for their state, 14 per cent opted for an Iranian-style theocracy, 13.5 per cent would like a liberal autocracy modelled on the United Arab Emirates and 9.6 per cent chose the United States. The survey was conducted amongst 1,444 respondents in seven cities.