By Ben Russell
IndependentApril 29, 2003
Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, hinted for the first time yesterday that weapons of mass destruction might never be found in Iraq. In a statement that appeared to prepare the ground for the eventual failure to find chemical, nuclear and biological weapons, Mr Straw told MPs he was confident only that Iraq "had them recently" and insisted that a weapons find was not needed to provide legal justification for the war.
In contrast, Tony Blair remained upbeat, saying: "Before people crow about the absence of weapons of mass destruction, I suggest they wait a little bit ... I remain confident that they will be found." Senior Foreign Office officials refused to confirm yesterday that Britain still believed the weapons of mass destruction would be found. They said Iraq's failure to account for weapons in reports by United Nations weapons inspectors was what justified the military campaign, arguing that a weapons find would be "a bonus". Mr Straw surprised MPs when he was questioned over the prospects of a weapons find. He said: "I'm not certain where it is ... I am absolutely certain that Iraq had illegal possessions of mass destruction and had them recently and therefore there is every reason why these ought to be found and that is the position of the whole Government."
One official said: "He [Mr Straw] used his words very carefully. The point he is avoiding making is the war is justified only if we can find weapons of mass destruction. Whatever happens in Iraq is significant but don't get this confused with the legal and diplomatic basis for the conflict." Mr Blair told his monthly press conference that the Allies were investigating 1,000 possible weapons sites. "We have looked at many of those but nothing like a majority of them," he said. He added: "There is no doubt that Iraq has had weap-ons of mass destruction. This is not in dispute. It was only after four years of denial that we discovered they had the biological weapons programme that we thought they had. The reasons we have had 12 years of resolutions is because we know those weapons existed.
"There was a six-month campaign of concealment of those weapons. That is our intelligence. There is no doubt in my mind that is what happened." Mr Straw admitted that the search for weapons of mass destruction was "unlikely to be quick" and said Britain and America were planning to send additional specialists to Iraq to join the search for weapons. He said: "The inspection process itself will be painstaking and detailed. The testimony from scientists and documentation about WMD development and production programmes will be the key to determining the fate of prohibited equipment, materials and munitions.
"But we cannot expect witnesses to come forward until they are confident they can speak freely." David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, told MPs: "The process of finding out what Saddam Hussein was up to will be a long and difficult one."
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