No Iraq smallpox found

Top American scientists assigned to the weapons hunt in Iraq found no evidence Saddam Hussein’s regime was making or stockpiling smallpox, the Associated Press has learned from senior military officers involved in the search.

Smallpox fears were part of the case the Bush administration used to build support for invading Iraq — and they were raised again as recently as last weekend by Vice President Dick Cheney.

But a three-month search by "Team Pox" turned up only signs to the contrary: disabled equipment that had been rendered harmless by U.N. inspectors, Iraqi scientists deemed credible who gave no indication they had worked with smallpox, and a laboratory thought to be back in use that was covered in cobwebs.

Fears that smallpox could be used as a weapon led the Bush administration to launch a vaccination campaign for some 500,000 U.S. military personnel after the Sept. 11 attacks, and to order enough vaccine to inoculate the entire U.S. population if necessary. President Bush also was vaccinated against the disease, which kills about a third of its victims.

The negative smallpox findings reported to U.S. intelligence agencies come nearly six months after the administration went to war to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction that Hussein long denied having and the military hasn’t been able to find.

Smallpox was declared eradicated worldwide in 1980. All samples of the virus were to have been destroyed except those held by special labs in Atlanta and Russia, but some experts fear Russian samples could have gotten into the hands of hostile nations.

Two of the six members of Team Pox — whose existence and work hasn’t been previously disclosed — have left Iraq, while the rest remain involved in other aspects of the weapons hunt, said the officers who described the smallpox pursuit for the first time.

Though Team Pox is no longer operational, having carried out its work between May and July, their findings don’t dismiss the possibility that smallpox could still be discovered, according to the officials.

However, there remains little to pursue in this area now.

"We found no physical or new anecdotal evidence to suggest Iraq was producing smallpox or had stocks of it in its possession," one of the military officers said.

Bush administration officials often cited smallpox when describing Hussein’s intentions, and continue to do so despite the lack of evidence.

On Sunday, Cheney said two trailers discovered in Iraq could have been used to make smallpox. The vice president referred to the trailers as "mobile biological facilities" — a characterization that has been disputed by intelligence analysts within two U.S. government agencies that believe the trailers were used to fill weather balloons.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, making the U.S. case for war last February at the United Nations, said Hussein "has the wherewithal to develop smallpox."