Democrats Call for Probe of Iraq Weapons Claims

Sun January 25, 2004 07:54 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry said on Sunday the Bush administration, including Vice President Dick Cheney, should be "held accountable" for claims Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
Kerry, riding a tide of support since a surprising win Monday in the first of the U.S. presidential nominating contests, said U.S. lawmakers should hold hearings on Capitol Hill.

David Kay, appointed by the Bush administration to hunt for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. told Reuters on Friday he had concluded Iraq had no stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons, as asserted in official U.S. intelligence estimates in the lead-up to the U.S.-led invasion.

"They ought to be held accountable for using the weapons of mass destruction argument," Kerry of Massachusetts said on CBS' "Face the Nation" program. "Dick Cheney and others in the administration misled the American people with respect to the true status of the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."

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