http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2942978.stm

Saddam 'may have destroyed weapons'

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said Iraq may have destroyed its weapons of mass destruction before the US went to war against Saddam Hussein in March.
Mr Rumsfeld said the search for hidden weapons was continuing and it will "take time" to investigate hundreds of suspected sites.

The BBC's Washington correspondent Justin Webb says Mr Rumsfeld's remarks are the closest the Bush administration has yet come to an admission that it may never find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

The allegation that Saddam Hussein possessed chemical, biological and nuclear weapons was the main reason why the US attacked Iraq.

The former Iraqi regime consistently insisted it had destroyed all such weapons in compliance with United Nations resolutions.