David Kay On Inspections and Absence of Prohibited Weapons

[Barrett808]

One year after the United States and Britain bypassed ongoing United Nations weapons monitoring and disarmament efforts and invaded Iraq, U.S.-led teams scouring the country have failed to uncover any prohibited Iraqi weapons stockpiles.
In an "Arms Control Today" interview published this week, David Kay, the former head of the U.S. post- war weapons inspection effortthe Iraq Survey Group (ISG), reiterated his view that there were no significant chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons in Iraq.

He suggested that previous, underrated UN weapons inspections played a vital role in constraining Iraq's weapons programs. When asked if going to war with Iraq was wise if "it was just a WMD-based decision," Kay replied, "It was not worth it."

Kay also addressed a range of other questions about his findings in Iraq. These include: the reasons why no significant prohibited weapons stockpiles have been uncovered, what the Iraq episode tells us about U.S. intelligence, and why the Iraqis failed to fully account for their past arms activities. Kay was interviewed March 5, 2004 by "Arms Control Today" Editor, Miles Pomper, and Arms Control Association Research Analyst, Paul Kerr.

Kay noted, "Most intelligence reports from around the world said that the Iraqi chemical and biological programs had already been restarted and that they had weapons. Turns out, I think, those reports were wrong, and now we know they were wrong because inspections were more of a hindrance, and (the Iraqis) feared them more in the mid-90s than we anticipated."

(more)

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/iraq-04c.html

[achtung_circus]

1. One of the more verbose ways to say BULLSHIT

Kay commented on Vice President Dick Cheney's recent claims that there might still be weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Kay said, "I think most others at the working level recognized the correctness of the assessment that those weapons don't exist.

[dennis4868]

2. Too bad....

the media blackballed Scott Ritter and looks to David Kay as the prophet of WMD. The UN inspection teams did not think very highly of Kay in the 1990s.