Inspector: Iraq had no WMDs

Kay says he concluded at start of war no stockpile existed

By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON -- David Kay, who led the U.S. effort to find banned weapons in Iraq, said yesterday after stepping down from his post that he had concluded that Iraq had no stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons at the start of the war last year.

In an interview with Reuters, Kay said he thought that Iraq had illicit weapons at the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, but that the subsequent combination of U.N. inspections and Iraq's own decisions "got rid of them."

Asked directly whether he was saying that Iraq did not have any large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons in the country, Kay replied, according to a transcript of the taped interview made public by Reuters, "That is correct."

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509 American sons and daughters have died in pursuit of weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. Mr. Bush owes this nation an explanation and an apology.