Blix hopes for truth over Iraq

The Iraqis used only conventional weapons during the war

Chief United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix has recorded an open verdict over whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

Saddam Hussein's regime might have hidden weapons, or it might have destroyed them, Mr Blix said, in what was almost certainly his last report to the UN Security Council before he retires later this month.

But he said that the conditions were now right in for the truth to come out, either way, following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Mr Blix's report comes amid mounting accusations from intelligence officials that Washington and London misled the public about the reasons for going to war with Iraq.

WERE WE MISLED OVER WMD?

I supported the war, with or without the discovery of WMD, but if there are questions of deception then there must be an inquiry - democracies must remain open

Shawn Hampton, Oregon, US

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US President George W Bush has promised to "reveal the truth" about Iraq's alleged chemical and biological weapons.

But in a BBC interview, a senior former US intelligence official has suggested that evidence against Iraq was distorted in order to justify the attack.

And a well-informed source close to British intelligence told the BBC that drafts of last September's UK dossier on Iraq's WMD were repeatedly sent back to intelligence agencies with requests for changes.

Blix optimistic

In New York, Mr Blix said the fall of Saddam Hussein should mean it was possible to discover the truth about the weapons.

In his report, which covers the last three months since inspectors were withdrawn before the US-led invasion of Iraq, Mr Blix said Iraq had left "many unanswered questions" about its non-conventional weapons, but this did not mean such dangerous arms still existed.

Hans Blix is due to retire at the end of the month

"The lack of finds could be because the items were unilaterally destroyed by the Iraqi authorities or else because they were effectively concealed by them," he said.

"I trust that in the new environment in Iraq, in which there is full access and co-operation, and in which knowledgeable witnesses should no longer be inhibited to reveal what they know, it should be possible to establish the truth we all want to know."

Former US intelligence official Greg Thielman, who worked at the State Department until September 2002, has accused Washington of misleading the American public.

"Evidence has been distorted and the public has really been misled on issues that helped inform the decision about war and peace," Mr Thielman told the BBC's Today programme.

"Our office had the responsibility of looking at intelligence from all sources that were available to the US Government and from all agencies.

"The way that some of the other parts of the intelligence community like the CIA packaged information and presented it to its superiors did not seem to always be the most objective."

The BBC's Greg Barrow at the UN in New York says Dr Blix's report is neither a ringing endorsement for the UK and US Governments, nor is it a vindication for those who believed Baghdad destroyed its WMD.

Mr Blix has already appealed to the Security Council to continue the inspectors' mission, saying teams could resume work within two weeks if needed.

The first of 1,400 experts ordered to Iraq to continue the search for weapons arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday night.

"Saddam Hussein's got a big country in which to hide them. Well, we'll look," President Bush told US troops in Qatar, on the last stop in a hectic overseas tour which took him to Europe and the Middle East.

Mr Bush return flight back to Washington took him over Baghdad on Thursday, but he did not stop over at the Iraqi capital.

The US has rejected calls for the return of UN inspectors to hunt for Iraqi weapons. But it has said it plans to widen the search, by interviewing low-ranking officials and relying on interrogations of alleged war criminals.

A small team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is due to arrive in Iraq on Friday to check on looting of atomic materials, but the US has barred it from visiting all but one site at a nuclear research complex south of Baghdad.

US Defense Department officials quoted by Reuters news agency are insisting that US troops accompany the UN inspectors at the site, and that the visit sets no precedent for a future role in Iraq for the IAEA.