The man searching for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction is today expected to say that no such weapons exist and the threat to launch chemical or biological attacks may have been a bluff.
Mr David Kay is head of the 1,200-strong CIA-led Iraq Survey Group that is searching - so far without success - the country for the weapons which were the basis for the invasionHe is expected to tell US congressmen and women at private hearings that Saddam Hussein may have pretended that he had distributed WMDs to his most loyal commanders in a bid to deter an invasion, it was reported.
The lack of any significant discoveries so far has led to criticism of the Bush Administration and of Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was recently branded untrustworthy by 64 per cent of voters in an opinion poll.
But Mr Kay was also expected to tell the House and Senate intelligence committees that Saddam never abandoned his attempts to develop chemical and biological weapons and also wanted to restart his nuclear programme, the Washington Postreported.
Mr Kay was expected to say in the interim report that after UN weapons inspectors pulled out of Iraq in 1998, Saddam continued to buy supplies which could be used to produce banned weapons.
He will also set out the lengths to which Saddam's regime went to deceive the weapons inspectors, including hiding documents and materials.