<Where are the banned weapons in Iraq?"

KEY QUOTES:

"Failure to find them 'could be very harmful to Bush politically,' analysts say."

"American forces in Iraq so far have come up empty in their search for weapons of mass destruction, leading some experts to question President Bush's primary justification for attacking Iraq."

"If the occupation proves grinding and costly, "the fact that no weapons were found could come back to haunt the administration, eroding (Bush's) ability to get Americans to support staying the course in nation-building. It's always dangerous for the president to be exposed as misleading the public. That lack of credibility, as President Johnson discovered, will erode Bush's ability to operate at home as well as abroad."

"Although Bush and other U.S. officials cited Saddam's repression of internal critics and alleged connection to the al-Qaida terrorist network, Iraq's alleged development of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons consistently stood as Exhibit A in the administration's case for war."

"Some experts say U.S. teams would have to find a significant quantity of weapons to fulfill the public expectations that the administration has nurtured."

"Powell in his presentation talked about 500 tons of chemical agents ... tens of thousands of liters of anthrax. Even if the teams come up with some prohibited arms, it may not satisfy expectations the Bush team created before the war."