A new report by the US weapons inspector in Iraq concludes that the pre-war government did not possess any actual WMDs, but Saddam Hussein maintained plans to restore weapons programs when UN sanctions ended, the New York Times reported Friday. The 1,500-page report by Charles Duelfer was being circulated among US officials and will likely be released publicly in the next several weeks.

Overall, the report confirmed with more detail conclusions made by the previous US inspector, David Kay, who stepped down in January. View the text of Kay's testimony before Congress from October 2003, as well as Duelfer's Congressional testimony in March 2004. The report comes in the wake of comments by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that the US-led invasion of Iraq, which was largely justified by claims that Iraq possessed WMDs, was illegal (see this Paper Chase report). The New York Times has more.