Finally, US climbs down

Speaking before hundreds of cheering workers, he added: 8216;8216;But we know he had them. And whether he destroyed them, moved them, or hid them, we8217;re going to find out the truth.8217;8217; It was the first hint by Bush that US troops and others hunting for weapons might fail to find chemical and biological arms. The administration had laid out in painstaking detail what it called an irrefutable case that Iraq possessed such weapons.

Failure to find significant quantities of the weapons would be a major embarrassment for the US position. Bush also said it would take time to rebuild the country. 8216;8216;Iraq is recovering not just from weeks of conflict, but from decades of totalitarian rule,8217;8217; he said.

On the subject of Iraq8217;s 8216;8216;weapons of mass destruction,8217;8217; administration officials have regularly expressed confidence that Saddam8217;s weapons would be found, and many expected them to be found quickly. Bush8217;s remarks Thursday were more pessimistic. He noted that Iraqis with knowledge of the programmes 8216;8216;have come forward recently, some voluntarily, others not,8217;8217; to 8216;8216;let us know what the facts were on the ground.8217;8217;

While expressing no certainty about Iraq8217;s weapons, Bush said that 8216;8216;one thing is for certain: Saddam Hussein no longer threatens America with weapons of mass destruction.8217;8217; Launching the war, Bush told the nation that 8216;8216;the people of the US and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder.8217;8217;

In the months before the war, the administration said that Iraq had not accounted for 25,000 litres of anthrax; 38,000 litres of botulinum toxin; 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent; and 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents.

The administration was also highly critical of UN weapons inspectors for failing to find the evidence. But in the war and its aftermath, US troops and weapons hunters have failed to make a confirmed finding of forbidden weapons, even as they have uncovered tantalizing clues.

The official purpose of Bush8217;s visit to Ohio Thursday was to build support for a tax cut of at least 550 billion and to put pressure on Sen George Voinovich of Ohio, a Republican holdout. But Bush8217;s Thursday afternoon event here in western Ohio became something of a celebration of the yet-undeclared victory in Iraq.

He boasted that the 8216;8216;deck of cards,8217;8217; on which the Pentagon featured Iraq8217;s most-wanted former leaders, 8216;8216;seems to be getting complete over time.8217;8217; Bush at one point stood on two of the tanks in the factory. 8216;8216;We8217;re witnessing historic days in the cause of freedom,8217;8217; Bush almost shouted to the boisterous crowd. LAT-WP

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