268 days: still no WMDs found in Iraq

Bush, Blair and Howard went to war on the grounds that Iraq 
possessed stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and was a 
threat to world peace. Bush insisted that former Iraqi leader 
Saddam Hussein had actively pursued dangerous weapons programs 
right up to the start of the US attack in March.

US President George W Bush: "Had we failed to act, the dictator's 
weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day." 
(State of the Union Address, January 20, 2004)

Dr David Kay: "I don't think they [WMD] existed."

"What everyone was talking about is stockpiles produced after the 
end of the last [1991] Gulf War, and I don't think there was a 
large-scale production program in the '90s."

(David Kay resigned as head of US weapons-search team in Iraq on 
January 24, 2004)

Spokesperson for British Prime Minister Tony Blair: "It is 
important people are patient and we let the Iraq Survey Group do 
its work."

"There is still more work to be done and we await the findings of 
that but our position is unchanged."

US Secretary of State Colin Powell: It is an "open question" as 
to whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

"We don't know yet."

"We had questions that needed to be answered."

"What was it?" he asked. "One hundred tons, 500 tons or zero 
tons? Was it so many liters of anthrax, 10 times that amount or 
nothing?" 

(January 25, 2004)

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer: "Whether 
we'll find any stockpiles or not just remains to be seen."

(January 26, 2004)