Smoking gun find unlikely says British official

Almost four months after the United States and Britain invaded Iraq, a senior British official said yesterday it would be "extremely difficult" to find banned weapons they said justified war.

The official, who has closely monitored Iraq's military capability, said it was more likely Iraqi scientists or army officers would eventually come forward with evidence to support the US-British charges - instead of leading them to the weapons themselves.

"The fact that the Iraqis did not use any [weapons of mass destruction] during the conflict clearly indicates that they decided to do something else with the weapons that we genuinely believe that they had," he said.

"So they've either hidden, destroyed or dismantled them. And it's going to be extremely difficult to come up with the evidence. Not impossible, but it would be difficult.

"On the other hand, it is much more likely that scientists, military officers, over time will come forward to say what was happening in respect of the programmes that we believe were being developed in Iraq," said the official, who declined to be named.

But Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman insisted weapons "programmes and products" would be found in Iraq.

"The Prime Minister has absolute confidence that we will find evidence, not only of the programmes but also concrete evidence of the products of those programmes" of weapons of mass destruction, Blair's spokesman told reporters.

The failure to discover such arms in Iraq has raised questions about the case for war. The row has undermined Blair's credibility and dented his popularity.

Blair's Government is locked in an acrimonious row with the BBC over a claim it "sexed up" a dossier justifying the war. The BBC quoted an anonymous intelligence source.

In the latest twist, the Ministry of Defence has challenged the BBC to say whether the source was former UN weapons inspector David Kelly - who the Government says played only a limited role in compiling the September dossier.

Blair's spokesman said the Government now assumes Kelly was the BBC's source since the broadcaster will not name names.

Former British foreign minister Robin Cook said this week Blair's justification for war had begun to appear "palpably absurd".

"In March, Tony Blair dismissed the claim that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction as 'palpably absurd'," Cook wrote in the Independent .

"This week it was admitted that his Government now accepts that claim is true. It is the justification for war that begins to look 'palpably absurd'."

Cook quit the Government over its decision to join the US-led war.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq