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It seems to me to be a political mistake by Bush to have taken over the hunt for WMD in Iraq. Whatever they claim to find will be seen as suspect so Bush is on to a loser. Not really his own fault but that of his advisers. There again, it could be argued that they knew that there was nothing to be found ... Alternatively, they didn't want information about suppliers getting out (mostly the US and other Western states). Remember that Iraq's WMD declaration was 'handled' by the US. To be fair to David Kay, on being given this job he said that he was surprised that nothing had been found by the invading troops and that his own reputation was at stake. Assuming he was a believer then where did the WMD 'intelligence' come from? A foreign government? There were plenty of signals that the Iraqis had got rid of their WMD over a decade ago and that they were desperate to get the sanctions lifted. I can't see the answers coming out here in the UK where information is so closely controlled and the government can't be held to account. Also, Blair is so much more slippery than Bush. The truth is more likely to come out of the US. Perhaps the ISG is mainly to buy time for Bush just as the Hutton inquiry has bought time for Blair? 05 October 2003 For at least 10 years David Kay, head of the Iraq Survey Group, has staked his professional and business reputation on the case that Iraq was a serious threat. He was a frequent pundit on US television shows, making the case for regime change in blunt language. He called the attempt by Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, to broker an effective inspections process in 1998 "worse than useless"; claimed in 2002 that Iraq was pursuing its weapons of mass destruction in order to bring about the elimination of the state of Israel; and said before entering Iraq that the Coalition would find not just a "smoking gun", but a "smoking arsenal". Until October last year, Mr Kay was the vice-president of a major San Diego-based defence contractor, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), co-ordinating its homeland security and counter- terrorism initiatives. It was while he held this role that he claimed that Iraq could launch terrorist attacks on the US mainland. SAIC was in the headlines earlier this year when it was revealed that the US government had given it a contract three years ago to produce mobile biological vans for training purposes. Until February SAIC's corporate vice-president was Christopher Ryan Henry, now a senior policy official at the Pentagon. SAIC's spokesman acknowledged earlier this year that the company is deeply involved in the current war in Iraq, including its role in leading a $650m contract for services and support for the US army. Among other activities, the company runs the US-funded radio station in Umm Qasr, "Voice of the New Iraq", and helps to provide senior advisers to the US occupation authorities in Baghdad. It is not known if Mr Kay retains financial interests in SAIC. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=450120 Glen Rangwala The Independent Mark Parkinson Bodmin Cornwall _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk