Newton, Ia. — Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson said Monday he was certain former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction prior to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, a point of contention in the 41/2years since the war began. “We can’t forget the fact that although at a particular point in time we never found any WMD down there, he clearly had had WMD. He clearly had had the beginnings of a nuclear program,” Thompson told an audience of about 60 at a Newton cafe.
Thompson later said he was referring Saddam’s attack on Kurdish northern Iraq with banned weapons in the 1980s.
“He acknowledged, I think, in filings made by the United Nations that prior to the invasion — sometime prior to the invasion — that he had chemical and biological weapons,” Thompson said in a Des Moines Register interview. “I mean he used chemical weapons on the Kurds.”
The question of whether Saddam had chemical and biological weapons, and plans to acquire nuclear weapons, has been the subject of intense debate in light of inspectors’ failure to find evidence since the war began.
Thompson made the original statement while explaining why he felt the war was justified, despite the Bush administration’s chief justification for the invasion turning out to not be verifiable.
“In my estimation, his intent never did change,” Thompson said. “And by today, he clearly would have had that (weapons program) rejuvenated.”