How much of a threat?

Before going to war against Iraq last March, President Bush told the world that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was a threat. Bush said that Hussein possessed chemical and biological weapons, and long-range missiles, and was seeking a nuclear weapon. These weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the President said, threatened the U.S. and its allies. "Saddam Hussein," President Bush concluded, "is a threat we must deal with as quickly as possible."

Today, nearly one year after the invasion of Iraq, no such weapons have been found. And that is causing political headaches for President Bush.

In May 2003, President Bush sent David Kay, a former United Nations weapons inspector, to Iraq to search for WMD. In January, Kay reported that no Iraqi WMD had been found. "We were all wrong," he told Congress, "and that is most disturbing."

Some politicians say that the Kay report proves that President Bush exaggerated the Iraqi threat and that the U.S. went to war under false pretenses (reasons). President Bush denies this.

Appearing on the TV news show Meet the Press, President Bush said that all the intelligence he had seen before the war indicated that Hussein did have WMD.

The President has appointed an independent commission to investigate U.S. intelligence about Iraq's WMD. The controversy promises to be a big issue in the presidential campaign.