A US weapons inspection report completed in October 2004 concluded that Iraq had abandoned its weapons program after the 1991 Gulf War and had not revived it before the March 2003 invasion. The document, compiled by chief inspector Charles Duelfer, found Iraq's nuclear capacity had been in decline and would have taken years to rebuild.
Iraqi politicians saw the findings as confirmation that the coalition invaded under false pretenses. Iyad al-Samarrai of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni group that operated under restrictions during the Saddam era, said weapons claims were used to mask other motives. He called for reparations and the withdrawal of foreign forces.
An editorialist for the Baghdad daily Al-Mada said the report added nothing new, noting that President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had already spoken of reshaping the Middle East as a policy goal. An interim parliament member called for a formal US apology to the Iraqi people.
The Duelfer conclusions aligned with a British inquiry that faulted Prime Minister Tony Blair for going to war on insufficient grounds, and with criticism from former UN inspector Hans Blix. The same commentator cautioned, however, that an immediate withdrawal remained impractical while Iraqi security forces were still unready to take over.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in October 2004, in its own words.