un inspectors trash bush's evidence

SUPRISE SUPRISE "NOT"

Feb 22 2003


UN inspectors trash Bush's 'evidence'

From Richard Wallace, US Editor, In New York


US intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was "garbage", UN inspectors said yesterday.

They claimed "undeniable" evidence that Saddam Hussein was double-dealing over disarmament was "circumstantial, outdated or completely wrong".

The weapons team said they found NOTHING at an alleged nuclear research site shown in satellite pictures to the UN, and NOTHING at a Saddam palace where they were given precise co-ordinates of incriminating evidence.

Other claims relating to nuclear research and missiles were also fake. Claiming the inspectors had been fed "garbage after garbage after garbage" by President Bush's spy chiefs, one said: "We've better things to do than run around the country chasing bogus evidence."

The slapdown came as Tony Blair said he would defy any peace plea from the Pope, who he meets today.

Stepping up the "moral" case for war on Iraq, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that reports showed Saddam was planning to use chemical and bio-weapons against a range of targets.