WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- A classified study by U.S. intelligence officials disclosed by USA Today Friday forewarned Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction would never be found.
The newspaper said the report was presented to the National Security Council, but was "not specifically shown to President Bush."
Three months before the United States led an invasion coalition into Iraq, the report warned U.S. military tactics, guerrilla warfare, looting and lying by Iraqi officials would undermine the search for banned Iraqi weapons, the report said.
The study said arms searchers would be "trying to find multiple needles in a haystack ... against the background of not knowing how many needles have been hidden."
The study findings ring similar to statements by David Kay, the former chief of the U.S. arms search in Iraq, who now says he believes Iraq did not have banned weapons before the war and had probably destroyed them more than a decade ago.
