Iraq's WMDs could be dismantled: British officials

Officials from the British Foreign Ministry have told an inquiry committee investigating the Iraq War, that they believed Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction had been dismantled.

The second day of the public hearings.

The inquiry is looking into Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capability and its influence on the decision to go to war.

The British Foreign Ministry's director of international security, William Ehrman, says officials had been warned repeatedly that intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were shoddy.

William Ehrman, Dir. Int'l Security of British Foreign Ministry, said, "April 2000, the pictures was limited on chemical weapons. May 2001, the knowledge of WMD and ballistic missile programmes was patchy. March 2002, the intelligence on Iraq WMD and ballistic missile is sporadic and patchy."

Just a few days before the invasion in March of 2003, the British government had received intelligence that Saddam Hussein may be unable to use his chemical weapons.