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Top weapons hunter dilutes Bush, Powell claim about bacteria
Saturday, October 04, 2003

BY JOHN J. LUMPKIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Both President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell contended yesterday that a vial of botulinum bacteria found in Iraq is evidence of Saddam Hussein's weapons intent. But David Kay, the chief U.S. weapons inspector, said the vial had been stored for safekeeping in an Iraqi scientist's refrigerator since 1993.

And Kay offered no evidence it had been used in a weapons program during the last decade. ...

...Kay had reported to Congress Thursday that his team has so far found no weapons of mass destruction inside Iraq. But Bush said yesterday the Iraq war was justified and cited a handful of evidence in particular -- including the vial of bacteria -- as proof that Kay found ample signs Saddam "was a danger to the world."

"The report states that Saddam Hussein's regime had a clandestine network of biological laboratories, a live strain of deadly agent botulinum, sophisticated concealment efforts and advanced design work on prohibited longer-range missiles," Bush told reporters before leaving for a daylong trip to Milwaukee.

Powell also cited the discovery of the vial of bacteria, along with confirmation that Iraq was trying to develop longer-range missiles than the United Nations had permitted.

"We are more convinced by the Kay report that we did the right thing," Powell told reporters. "Do you think vials of botulism should constitute a weapon of mass destruction? ... They never lost that capability. They never lost that intent."

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher added: "You kill people with botuli. They have no other use."...

...As for the vial, it contained live bacteria that make botulinum toxin -- a toxin that can be used as a biological weapon. But experts say there are many complicated steps between possessing a vial of bacteria and producing enough of the toxin to create a weapon. That would require relatively sophisticated equipment and processing.

The bacteria itself is a common cause of food poisoning. ...