Bush misrepresented WMD scare: Report

On biological weapons, it said threat was related to what could be developed in the future rather than what Iraq already had. The missile programme appeared to have been in active development in 2002.

It was unlikely Iraq could have destroyed, hidden, or moved out hundreds of tonnes of chemical and biological weapons, dozens of Scud missiles, and chemical and biological weapons facilities without US detecting some sign of that activity, the report said.

8216;8216;Administration officials systematically misrepresented the threat from Iraq8217;s WMD and ballistic missile programmes,8217;8217; the report said. They lumped nuclear, chemical and biological weapons together as a single threat, despite the 8216;8216;very different8217;8217; danger they posed, which distorted the cost-benefit analysis of the war. The US also insisted without evidence that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would give WMDs to terrorists, it said.

8216;8216;There was no evidence to support the claim that Iraq would have transferred WMDs to Al Qaeda and much evidence to counter it.8221;

Before 2002, US intelligence had a generally accurate reading of the weapons programmes but from 2002, 8216;8216;the intelligence community began to be unduly influenced by policymakers8217; views8217;8217;. 8212; Reuters