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U.S. Comes Up Empty in Iraq Weapons Hunt
Wednesday, April 23, 2003
(4:45 PM)
By PAULINE JELINEK
Associated Press Writer
The sites in Iraq searched for chemical and biological weapons have included mosques, homes, factories and government ministries. In some cases teams arrived to find buildings completely empty - swept of any evidence, one official said. One search team also interviewed an Iraqi scientist last week who said some weapons were moved to Syria and others were destroyed before the war. His account has not yet been verified.
A US soldier of the 4th Infantry Division checks a building of the headquarters of the 5th Corps of the Iraqi Army in Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday April 23, 2003.
Image Credit: Saurabh Das -- AP
WASHINGTON -- AP
American forces are changing their search strategy after coming up empty at most of the top suspected weapons sites in Iraq, officials said Wednesday.
And the White House appeared to be trying to scale back expectations that weapons of mass destruction will be found.
Troops on the ground have searched more than 80 sites that prewar U.S. intelligence judged the most likely hiding places for chemical and biological weapons as well as evidence of an Iraqi nuclear program, Defense Department officials said on condition of anonymity.
There are more than 1,000 suspected sites but 100 or so were the searchers' top priority.
Some analysis is pending on some substances found. But finding no stockpiles of chemical or biological agents after more than a month into the campaign, teams are now setting aside the search list and deciding where to go more on the basis of new information from Iraqis, three defense officials said Wednesday.
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2003 © The Associated Press.
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U.S. Comes Up Empty in Iraq Weapons Hunt . . .