Powell defends Iraq WMD chase

US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday staunchly defended his arguments that Saddam Hussein had WMDs that justified a war against Iraq.

Powell insisted that though post-war investigations have yet to find stockpiles of WMDs, the ousted Iraqi regime for years possessed both the arms and the intention to use them.‘‘I am confident of what I presented last year’’, he said of his February 2, 2003 UN speech, which laid out case for invading Iraq.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace had issued a report saying the administration ‘‘systematically misrepresented the threat from Iraq’s WMD and ballistic missile programmes.’’ Powell said that while ‘‘I have not seen smoking gun’’ on links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, ‘‘I think the possibility of such connections did exist. And it was prudent to consider them at the time that we did.” — (Agencies)