washingtonpost.com: Some Iraqi Scientists Are Cooperating, CIA Weapons Adviser Says

Some Iraqi Scientists Are Cooperating, CIA Weapons Adviser Says
'Solid Evidence' of WMD Programs Being Gathered, Kay Tells Senate Committee

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 31, 2003; 3:11 PM

Some Iraq scientists are cooperating in the hunt for Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, including leading searchers to sensitive sites, according to David Kay, the CIA's adviser on the search for weapons.

After appearing this morning for three hours before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Kay told reporters, "We are gaining the cooperation, the active cooperation of Iraqis who were involved in that program. We are, as we speak, involved in sensitive exploitation of sites that we are being led to by Iraqis."

While Kay said "solid evidence" is being produced, it would not be made public "until we have full confidence it is solid proof of what we're to talk about."

Kay took issue with a story in today's Washington Post that quoted administration sources as saying the Iraqi Survey Team, which Kay is helping direct, is studying documents but not visiting sites.

Kay said sites being visited are new and "almost every one of them is one that we did not know about until we were led to it by Iraqis or the documentation we have seized."

Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the committee, said after the hearing that "good, solid progress is being made," but there will not be "any dramatic public announcements at this time." Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kans.), a member of the panel and chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence,

Concerned that past piecemeal findings have been challenged and even withdrawn, Kay said he was looking for "multiple Iraqis willing to talk and explain the program . . . , documentary evidence . . ., and physical evidence associated with a program."

He said it will take time to put together the evidence so that it is convincing and will stand international scrutiny.

He also said he has found new evidence on how Iraq successfully misled United Nations inspectors and hid material from them. Prior to 1998, when they were withdrawn, U.N. inspectors focused on Iraq's deception operation and made it a central part of its final report. Kay said today that interviews with people who took part show, "The active deception program is truly amazing once you get inside it."