An intensive six-month search of Iraq for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) has failed to find a single trace of an illegal arsenal, according to accounts of a report circulated in Washington and London.
A draft of the report, compiled by the CIA-led 1,400-strong Iraq Survey Group (ISG), has been sent to the White House, the Pentagon and to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a US intelligence source said, and will contain no evidence of Iraqi stockpiles of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.
"It demonstrates that the main judgments of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) in October 2002, that Saddam had hundreds of tonnes of chemical and biological agents ready, are false," the source said.
The timing of this disclosure could hardly be worse for Blair, just days before the start of the Labour Party conference.
Iraq has dogged the prime minister almost continuously for five months, overshadowing the domestic agenda. Downing Street had been hoping for respite after the end of Lord Hutton's inquiry into the death of the British weapons expert David Kelly, which closed yesterday.
Blair put forward Iraq's weapons of mass destruction as the reason for going to war and he has repeatedly insisted that the weapons would be found.
He told a skeptical Conservative member of parliament on April 30 that he was absolutely convinced that Iraq had such weapons and predicted that, when the report was published, "you and others will be eating some of your words."
Although Downing Street last night officially dismissed the leak as speculation, government sources confirmed that it was accurate.
A Downing Street spokesman said: "People should wait. The reports today are speculation about an unfinished draft of an interim report that has not even been presented yet. And when it comes it will be an interim report. The ISG's work will go on."
* 3,000 tonnes of precursor chemicals -- None found * Tabun, a nerve agent -- None found * Mustard agent -- None found * Sarin nerve agent -- None found * 1.5 tonnes of VX nerve agent -- None found * Raw material for 25,500 liters of anthrax spores -- None found * Botulinum toxin -- None found * Aflatoxins -- None found * Ricin -- None found * Mobile laboratories -- Two suspect vehicles turned out to be innocent * 30,000 bombs, rockets and shells to deliver poison agents -- None found * L-29 remotely-piloted vehicle program supposedly capable of delivering WMD agents -- None found * Nuclear weapons material. Iraq was said to be capable of constructing bomb within two years -- None found * 20 al-Hussein missiles given a 640km extended range -- None found Source: The Guardian
He added: "Our clear expectation is that this interim report will not reach firm conclusions about Iraq's possession of WMD."
The government's defense will be to stress that failure to find the weapons does not mean that they do not exist.
The leak will fuel the anti-war sentiment ahead of tomorrow's demonstration in London for withdrawal of US and British troops from Iraq. It will also make it harder for Labour party organizers to resist grassroots pressure for a debate on Iraq.
The interim report is at present pencilled in for publication next week but the Labour Party, anxious to avoid it landing in the middle of its conference, is trying to get that changed.
The results of the ISG's search are also disappointing for the White House.
There is a debate within the administration over whether the report would be delivered to Congress at all, but congressional aides said they expected to hear from the head of the ISG, the former UN inspector David Kay, as early as next week.
He arrived back from Iraq last Wednesday and since then has been working on the report.
It is now thought that the ISG investigation will dwell on former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's capability and intentions.
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