Bush insists Iraq had WMD programme

US President George Bush insisted today that Baghdad had a programme to develop weapons of mass destruction, seeking to rebut critics who say his administration doctored evidence to justify invading Iraq.

“Iraq had a weapons programme,” Bush said. “Intelligence throughout the decade shows they had a weapons programme. I am absolutely convinced that with time, we will find out they did have a weapons programme.”

Weeks of searches in Iraq by military experts have not supported the administration’s portrayal of Iraq’s cache of weapons.

Alleged stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons have not turned up, nor has significant evidence of a nuclear weapons programme.