A British intelligence dossier "did not correspond to reality" by suggesting Saddam Hussein's regime could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes, the chief UN weapons inspector said today.
Mr Dimitris Perricos, in an interview published in the Greek Eleftherotypia newspaper, added that inspections had found no evidence to support US and British accusations that Saddam possessed an arsenal capable of widespread death and damage.
"There is no doubt that the phrase of 'within 45 minutes' that was included in the British report did not correspond to reality," Mr Perricos was quoted as saying.
The wording of the report forms part of the Hutton Inquiry into the apparent suicide of weapons scientist Dr David Kelly, who was identified as the source for a BBC claim the government "sexed up" intelligence about Iraq's weapons programmes to build support for war.
"The assertion that the Iraqis had a capability to inflict overwhelming destruction within 45 minutes is collapsing. The uranium never existed, and the aluminium pipes that supposedly are used in the enrichment of uranium possibly were just intended to be used for bombshells," said Mr Perricos, a Greek-born nuclear expert who replaced Hans Blix in June as the top UN weapons inspector in Iraq.
Mr Perricos said no "smoking gun" had been found so far in Iraq and that teams of American, British and Australian troops were still searching for evidence of chemical, biological and other weapons.
"No one, of course, should go to war for a (weapons) programme if they do not know if the weapons have been created," he added. "From the inspections, no evidence was found that would justify a war."
AP