New York, Oct 02: The Bush administration is seeking more than 600 million dollars from Congress to continue the hunt for conclusive evidence that Saddam Hussein's government had an illegal weapons programme, officials were today quoted as saying. The money, part of the White House's request for 87 billion dollars in supplemental spending on Iraq and Afghanistan, comes on top of at least 300 million dollars that has already been spent on the weapons search, the officials told New York Times.
The budget figures for the weapons search are included in the classified part of the administration's supplemental appropriations request, and have not been made public. The size of the request suggests the White House is determined to keep searching for unconventional weapons or evidence that they were being developed under Hussein, the Times said.
The search so far has turned up no solid evidence that Iraq had chemical, biological or nuclear weapons when the American invasion began in March, administration official were quoted as saying. Bureau Report