Contrary to Western intelligence claims about Iraq's supposed arms capability in the run-up to the 2003 invasion, the fact was that Saddam Hussein had destroyed his weapons of mass destruction and dismantled the infrastructure after the 1991 Gulf War, according to the United Nations' former chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix. Giving evidence before the Iraq inquiry committee here on Tuesday, Mr. Blix was emphatic that Iraq had “no weapons” by 2003.

“We knew there were no weapons,” he said adding that Saddam “unilaterally” dismantled the biological weapons programme after the 1991 war with Kuwait but did not want this to be officially verified.

Mr. Blix, who led a team of U.N. weapons inspectors to Iraq ahead of the invasion, said the inspections showed that Iraq had “no infrastructure” to produce a nuclear weapon even though Saddam may have retained some “resources” with a view to reviving the programme in future.

Mr. Blix reiterated his view that the invasion did not have proper U.N. authorisation. The U.N. resolution 1441 that America and Britain invoked to justify military intervention did not specifically authorise use of force, he said echoing the widely held view that a second resolution was essential.

He described the American and British interpretation of resolution1441 as “absurd'.

The resolution simply demanded that Saddam provide an “accurate, full and complete declaration” of all aspects of his WMD programmes, ballistic missiles and other weapons delivery systems but did not authorise use of force.

Mr. Blix questioned the basis of Western intelligence claims that Iraq had a continuing programme of weapons of mass destruction. In the past, he has accused American and British governments of “over-interpreting” intelligence and criticised them for not allowing his team to complete its work.

Several key figures, involved in the events leading up to the Iraq invasion, have told the inquiry that the then U.S. President, George W. Bush, had already made up his mind to invade Iraq without waiting for the weapons inspectors to give their final report. s

The inquiry, chaired by John Chilcot, a retired civil servant, is expected to give its report by the end of this year.