Kay, who is directing the WMD hunt
as an adviser to the CIA, presented an interim report to U.S. lawmakers
this week that said no banned weapons had yet been found.
Some Iraqi scientists have sought relocation in the
United States out of fear for the safety of their families, and others who
want to stay in Iraq seek security guarantees, Kay told reporters on a
conference call. ''They believe they are in genuine danger ... if they
collaborate with us,'' he said.
One
scientist was ''assassinated literally hours after meeting'' with a member
of the WMD-hunting team, killed by a single shot to the back of his head
outside his apartment, Kay said. There were no signs of robbery.
Another scientist, who was ''really golden
for us,'' was shot six times but survived, he said. Kay declined to name
them.
''The scientist who took six bullets
was ... key to starting our understanding of the biological weapons
program and pointing us in the direction of others,'' he said. His nephew
was also shot in the incident a month and a half ago, Kay said.
''We engaged in a lot of conversations with him. We
perhaps were not as sensitive to his security needs as now in retrospect
we realize we should have been,'' he said.
''It's very difficult to conduct clandestine meetings in Iraq when
you have to go pick people up because ... transport was hard to come by.''
But Kay said cooperation from Iraqis,
inside and outside detention, has increased. ''This is an intelligence-led
operation, we are absolutely dependent on the cooperation of Iraqis to
help us discover the complete truth about the WMD programs,'' he noted.
SURPRISED AT NO FIND
During the
war launched in March, Kay said he had feared that the Iraqi military
would use chemical weapons on U.S.-led forces and was surprised that no
such weapons were found soon afterward.
''I
think all of us who entered Iraq expected the job of actually discovering
deployed weapons to be easier than it has turned out to be,'' he said.
Kay was also surprised by an extensive lab
network found embedded in the Iraqi Intelligence Service, which was not
declared to U.N. inspectors and the extent to which Iraq had moved ahead
in its missile program.
The WMD hunters
have about five to six hypotheses about why the banned weapons have not
been found, Kay said.
They include that WMD
or related material were moved to another country before war, hidden by
people involved in the current resistance, or produced outside Iraq
through ''off-shore collaboration'' -- a theory with ''very little
evidence.''
Some Iraqis also contend that
scientists deceived Saddam Hussein, by lying to the former Iraqi leader
about conducting WMD activities so they could be rewarded, Kay said,
adding: ''The evidence for that one is also shaky.''
Asked whether he believed WMD would eventually be found, Kay
replied: ''We're not out to prove anyone's brief or any reports, we're out
to find the full truth about it and that's what I'm convinced we will
do.''
The team is also gathering
information about foreign assistance to Iraq, which was mainly in the
missile area and some dual-use areas, that involved North Korea and some
European countries which he declined to identify.
It is also investigating multiple reports from Iraqis of WMD or
weapons-related substances being moved across borders into Iran, Syria and
Jordan.
''We have in several of the cases
confirmed that there were actually movements on the date, on the route, to
the locations they have identified,'' Kay said, adding that his team had
no proof that it was WMD material being moved.
