From The Associated Press, 9/18/03:
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20030918_1501.html

AP: No Evidence Iraq Stockpiled Smallpox

AP NewsBreak: U.S. Weapons Hunters Find No Evidence Saddam Hussein Was
Making, Storing Smallpox

Sept. 18 --

Top American scientists assigned to the weapons hunt in Iraq found no
evidence Saddam Hussein's regime was making or stockpiling smallpox,
The Associated Press has learned from senior military officers
involved in the search.

Smallpox fears were part of the case the Bush administration used to
build support for invading Iraq and they were raised again as recently
as last weekend by Vice President ***** Cheney.

But a three-month search by "Team Pox" turned up only signs to the
contrary: disabled equipment that had been rendered harmless by U.N.
inspectors, Iraqi scientists deemed credible who gave no indication
they had worked with smallpox and a laboratory thought to be back in
use that was covered in cobwebs.

Fears that smallpox could be used as a weapon led the Bush
administration to launch a vaccination campaign for some 500,000 U.S.
military personnel after the Sept. 11 attacks, and to order enough
vaccine to inoculate the entire U.S. population if necessary.

President Bush also was vaccinated against the disease, which kills
about a third of its victims.

The negative smallpox findings reported to U.S. intelligence agencies
come nearly six months after the administration went to war to disarm
Iraq of weapons of mass destruction that Saddam long denied having and
the military hasn't been able to find.

Smallpox was declared eradicated worldwide in 1980.

All samples of the virus were to have been destroyed except those held
by special labs in Atlanta and Russia, but some experts fear Russian
samples could have gotten into the hands of hostile nations.

Two of the six members of Team Pox whose existence and work hasn't
been previously disclosed have left Iraq while the rest remain
involved in other aspects of the weapons hunt, said the officers who
described the smallpox pursuit for the first time.

Though Team Pox is no longer operational, having carried out their
work between May and July, their findings don't dismiss the
possibility that smallpox could still be discovered, according to the
officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

However, there remains little to pursue in this area now.

"We found no physical or new anecdotal evidence to suggest Iraq was
producing smallpox or had stocks of it in its possession," one of the
military officers said.

When Team Pox searched key locations in Iraq, such as the defunct
Darwah foot-and-mouth disease center, they found the facility in the
same condition U.N. inspectors left it in seven years ago.

In 1996, inspectors destroyed one fermenter, a storage tank and an
inactivation tank at Darwah and poured concrete into the air
conditioners while other equipment, including filter pressers and
centrifuges were tagged for monitoring purposes.

The smallpox team found cobwebs covering much of the inside, although
a CIA National Intelligence Estimate said the Iraqis were refurbishing
the facility.

U.S. satellite images had spotted trucks pulling up in the past year
an indication of renewed activity, the team was told.

But investigations on the ground revealed the trucks belonged to black
marketeers stealing scrap metal and other parts around the site.

____________________________________________

Another day another Bush lie flushed down the toilet.

Harry