Iraq

Rumsfeld: Illicit arms may yet be unearthed

WASHINGTON - Under grilling by Democratic lawmakers, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld insisted Wednesday that it is still too early to conclude that weapons of mass destruction will not be found in Iraq.

Rumsfeld told the House Armed Services Committee that "there's work still to be done" in surveying Iraq's weapons programs, "and it is too soon to come to final conclusions." The hole in which Saddam Hussein was found on Dec. 13 "was big enough to hold biological weapons to kill thousands," Rumsfeld said.

In his first public comments on the issue since former top weapons inspector David Kay told Congress last week that he believed U.S. intelligence on Iraq's weapons programs was flawed, Rumsfeld said in back-to-back hearings of the Senate and House Armed Services committees that the Bush administration did not manipulate or misuse prewar intelligence.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., told Rumsfeld that Kay's conclusions represent "a devastating refutation of the Bush administration's case for war in Iraq" that "seriously undermines our credibility in the world." Kennedy suggested that an investigatory commission planned by President Bush "look hard and fast at not just what the intelligence was, but how it was manipulated" by administration policymakers.

Rumsfeld offered several "alternative views" about why no illicit weapons had been discovered in Iraq, beginning with the possibility that such arms never existed.

"I suppose that's possible, but not likely," he said.

Rumsfeld said weapons may have been transferred to a third country before U.S. troops arrived in March, hidden in Iraq, or destroyed before the war.

Or, Rumsfeld postulated, "small quantities" of chemical or biological agents may have existed, along with a "surge capability" that would allow Iraq to rapidly build an arsenal. And, he said, "We may eventually find it in the months ahead."

BLAIR IS HECKLED: Prime Minister Tony Blair defended his decision to go to war in Iraq, saying he is ready to take responsibility for his actions while asserting that freedom and democracy in Iraq are more important than any mistaken intelligence.

Blair's speech in the House of Commons was interrupted by hecklers in the public gallery, where shouts of "Murderer!" and "Liar!" prompted a suspension of the proceedings for about 15 minutes while the gallery was cleared.

NO SPANISH INQUIRY: The Spanish government, one of the staunchest supporters of the war in Iraq, said Wednesday that it will not investigate possible intelligence flaws on the existence of unconventional weapons there.

- Information from the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Associated Press was used in this report.

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