Talk of resignation as pace of search slows

CAMP SLAYER, Iraq -- Weapons hunters are spending more time on base, intelligence experts have been reassigned to work on the counterinsurgency, and the man leading a search for chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons that has been fruitless so far is thinking of stepping down.

A nine-month search for the weapons of mass destruction President Bush said he went to war to destroy has been conducted by a succession of US teams that have failed to find any chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.

The lack of evidence has led critics to suggest the Bush administration either mishandled or exaggerated its knowledge of Iraq's arsenal. White House officials at times have said that weapons were found, or that evidence of programs, rather than actual weapons, would be enough for them.

Still, nothing substantive has materialized and after an exhaustive search, the weapons hunt appears to have slowed.

"For a while this place was really active, but that's changed in the last month," said Charles McKay, a member of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency who has been involved in the search since May.

"Now we're lucky if there's a mission once a week around here," he said at Camp Slayer, the nickname that weapons hunters have given to their base on the grounds of one of Saddam Hussein's former Baghdad palaces.

David Kay, a former UN weapons inspector, was named by the CIA in June to lead the search for weapons of mass destruction. His appointment, and the creation of his operation, the Iraq Survey Group, was supposed to be the key to finding weapons that Iraq long has denied having.

Kay returned to the United States last week and yesterday, a US intelligence official in Washington said he was considering quitting his post. Kay did not return an e-mail message seeking comment and recently turned down a request for an interview.

During a visit Wednesday to Kay's headquarters at Camp Slayer, a senior military officer with the weapons hunt tried to offer assurances their work was continuing. "We're still here," Roland Mulligan said.

US intelligence officials in Washington said the search would continue. New leads could come from the interrogation of Hussein, who was captured Saturday.

The weapons hunt is staffed by more than 1,000 intelligence analysts, interrogators and translators who pore over documents, investigate suspect sites, and conduct interviews with Iraqis.

The work hasn't been easy and there was recently a large staff turnover, those involved with the search said on condition of anonymity.

Some people went home and others were reassigned to work on the counterinsurgency effort the US military is waging in Iraq, US officers said.

Kay's teams have complained about everything from logistical and transportation problems to an inability to find and keep track of Iraqi scientists.

So far, Kay's teams have talked to hundreds of Iraqis. Some have been detained, but most have been cleared. In many cases, they were rehired for their old jobs; others will be eligible for US government-funded projects.

Currently, fewer than 10 former weapons scientists, with expertise in biological weapons or missiles, are in custody for suspected work or knowledge of proscribed programs. No one has led inspectors to any weapons.

"It's probably time to call it quits," said Hans Blix, the former chief UN weapons inspector, whose teams were given one-third of the time the United States has spent looking for weapons. In October, Congress approved $600 million for the weapons hunt to continue. Kay predicted then that definitive conclusions would be reached within six to nine months -- by spring 2004.