WASHINGTON – U.S. investigators hunting for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq have found no evidence that such material was moved to Syria for safekeeping before the war, according to a final report of the investigation posted on the Internet on Monday.
The CIA’s top weapons inspector in Iraq, Charles Duelfer, said Monday that the hunt for weapons of mass destruction has “gone as far as feasible” and has found nothing, closing an investigation into the purported programs of Saddam Hussein that were used to justify the 2003 invasion.
Because of the insular nature of Hussein’s government, however, the investigators were “unable to rule out unofficial movement of limited WMD-related materials” from Iraq to Syria.
The Iraq Survey Group’s main findings – that Hussein’s Iraq did not possess chemical and biological weapons and had only aspirations for a nuclear program – were made public in October.
On Monday, Duelfer said there is no purpose in keeping many of the detainees who are in custody because of their knowledge on Iraq’s weapons.
Monday’s final report is published on the Government Printing Office’s Web site, www.gpo.gov. Under “GPO Access,” click on “What’s New.” The so-called Duelfer Report is listed under the April 25 date.
Report to clear soldiers in shooting
A U.S. investigation into the shooting death of an Italian intelligence officer March 4 in Baghdad is expected to conclude that American soldiers generally followed standing instructions when they fired on a car he was in, a senior U.S. defense official said Monday. The Italian officer, Nicola Calipari, died trying to shield journalist Giuliana Sgrena, a hostage he had just helped free from her insurgent captors. He was killed when U.S. soldiers at the checkpoint fired on the car as it approached them.
No probe of Schiavo judges’ conduct
House Republicans say they haven’t opened and don’t plan any new investigations of federal judges after Terri Schiavo’s death despite Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s promise to examine the judiciary’s conduct. DeLay, now involved in an ethics controversy over the source of funding for some of his foreign travels, escalated his attacks on the judiciary after the severely brain-damaged woman’s death March 31. Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed under court order.
Feds, Ford save 52 wild horses
Thirty-five more wild horses rounded up in the West were slaughtered Monday, but the Interior Department acted quickly to save the lives of 52 other mustangs by enlisting last-minute financial help from Mustang sports car maker Ford Motor Co. The horses killed came from a broker who obtained them from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. The tribe traded 87 of the 105 aging horses it bought from the government for younger ones. The latest killings bring to 41 the number of wild horses slaughtered since Congress removed protections for mustangs in December.
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