Desperate Saddam could attack America says CIA chief

CIA DIRECTOR George Tenet has told politicians Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, if provoked

Thu, 10 Oct, 2002 - 01:00

fears of an imminent US-led attack, might help Islamic extremists attack America with weapons of mass destruction.

Saddam might see it as "his last chance to exact vengeance by taking a large number of victims with him", Tenet wrote in a letter yesterday.

Tenet's assessment came as both the House of Representatives and Senate debated a resolution to authorise President Bush to use force against Iraq, and followed Bush's assertion the Iraqi leader might be planning a chemical or biological attack on US interests.