In quotes: Iraq weapons row

The following are comments by key figures in the row over whether the US and UK governments made exaggerated claims about alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to justify going to war.

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Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby, director of US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA):

We could not specifically pin down individual facilities operating as part of the weapons of mass destruction programme, specifically the chemical warfare portion...

DIA joined in the intelligence community assessment, and that assessment assessed that they had a weapons of mass destruction programme in place.

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CIA Director George Tenet:

The integrity of our [intelligence] process was maintained throughout.

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US President George W Bush:

This is a man [Saddam Hussein] who spent decades hiding tools of mass murder. He knew the inspectors were looking for them. You know better than me he's got a big country in which to hide them. We're on the look. We'll reveal the truth.

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US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld:

It is also possible that they decided that they would destroy them [WMD] prior to a conflict.

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UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix on US and British intelligence tip-offs:

Only in three of those cases did we find anything at all, and in none of these cases were there any weapons of mass destruction, and that shook me a bit, I must say...

I thought - my God, if this is the best intelligence they have and we find nothing, what about the rest?

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UK Prime Minister Tony Blair on new US-led inspection team:

I have absolutely no doubt at all that they will find the clearest possible evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

At G8 summit on 2 June:

The idea that we doctored intelligence reports in order to invent some notion about a 45-minute capability for delivering weapons of mass destruction is completely and totally false.

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Former UK Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, who resigned as leader of the House of Commons over the war:

We have not found any of these chemical shells capable of being used in 45 minutes or 45 hours.

We have been in Iraq, since the war ended, for over 45 days and we have not found a single chemical shell. It is obvious that that statement was wrong.

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Former UK International Development Secretary Clare Short:

The claim the stuff was weaponised and might be used in 45 minutes was part of the secret commitment to a date, which meant everything had to be hurried along.

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UK shadow chancellor Michael Howard:

If... the government engaged in deception in order to gain public support or get the support of the Labour Party for this war, that would be an immensely serious matter going to the heart of the integrity of our government.

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