Sept. 8, 2004 – In a new report from the United Nations monitoring agency known as UNMOVIC, based on pre-war inspections, investigators say they found no evidence to support Bush administration claims that unpiloted aerial drones possessed by Saddam Hussein?s Iraq had the capability to fly prohibited distances or to deliver chemical or biological payloads.
As part of its justification for the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Bush administration officials pointed to an Iraqi aerial drone program, which they said could fly farther than the 97 miles allowed under sanctions imposed against Iraq by the UN. Instead, UNMOVIC found the vehicles were probably used "for conventional military purposes such as air defense training, data collection and surveillance," and found no plans for banned uses.
