January 2004
WMD, RIP
"I don't think they existed ... I don't think there was a large-scale production program in the '90s."
—David Kay, stepping down January 23 as leader of the Iraq Survey Group
After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, David Kay, who searched for WMD during the first Gulf War, leads the U.S. weapons inspection team known as the Iraq Survey Group. In less than one year, Kay tells a Senate committee that no WMD have been found in Iraq. "It turns out that we were all wrong," he testifies on January 28, though he maintains that he still believes the war was the right thing to do in light of the continuing threat posed by Saddam. In fact, soon after he steps down, Kay says in an interview that Iraq never gave up its ambition to obtain WMD and in fact "had a large number of WMD program-related activities." Charles Duelfer takes over Kay's role, releasing the Survey Group's final report, which affirms that no WMD were found, in September of 2004; the search is officially ended on January 12, 2005.