IRAQ

Straitstimes: 10 weeks on and still no 'smoking gun'
RUTBAH (Iraq) -- Frustrated weapons hunters are turning away from outdated US intelligence leads, which have failed to turn up any evidence of chemical, biological or nuclear arms in Iraq after 10 weeks.
Teams are now moving towards their own intelligence gathering, based on interviews with Iraqi scientists, factory workers and even neighbours who lived near shadowy operations once run by Saddam Hussein.
The switch comes at a time of lowered expectations and increased frustration among the searchers.
US President George W. Bush has said he began the war to disarm Saddam. But there has been no sign of either the ousted leader or the weapons he long denied having.
In the war's early days, American officers said they expected to find such huge stockpiles of unconventional weapons that their main concern was whether they had enough people to destroy the materials.