Maple 01 wrote
No WMD? Hmmm, must have been misinformed about the 500 CW shells then, and the prohibited long range missiles were a fiction too I guess
Not even the U.S. used the WMD munitions found as evidence. The U.S. regarded them as the remnants of the old legacy Iraqi WMD. Even the binary shells discovered in the hands of militants were not deemed as proof of an Iraqi WMD cache.
The Al Samoud 2's were a bit of a blurred range issue. They were slightly over the range permitted, but not by much. UNMOVIC were in the process
of destroying them right up until they had to leave.
Even up until the invasion UNMOVIC were destroying Iraqi WMD.
Media Advisory 2003/2502 - UNMOVIC IAEA Press Statement on Inspection Activities in Iraq - 25 February 2003
UN Inspectors Found No Evidence of Prohibited Weapons Programmes as of 18 March Withdrawal, Hans Blix Tells Security Council; Says New Environment in Iraq, with Full Access and Cooperation,should Allow Establishment of Truth About ?unaccounted For? I
ISG report
Iraq Survey Group Final Report
In terms of WMD a working cache would have had to have been discovered. For example if Coalition forces had overrun a Republican Guard unit with 155mm chemical shells, or a SCUD battery.
TJ