Straw: War was justified; Saddam dead or wounded

A failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq would not mean that the war was unjustified or that the coalition exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Friday.  

"People are now trying to suggest that somehow the decision to take military action was entirely conditional on subsequently finding chemical and biological weapons material," Straw told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "That wasn't the case."  

The international community "accepted that Saddam had these weapons and they posed a threat," he said. "Did we overstate the threat?" he said. "I don't think we overstated the threat."  

Straw echoed the U.S. government view that Saddam was at least wounded during the first night of bombing of Baghdad. But he said nothing was certain about the Iraqi president's fate. 

"There were reports overnight ... suggesting that he was definitely at the site which was bombed early on in the military action and appeared to be wounded," Straw stated. 

"I'd certainly heard that before. But I think it's entirely a matter of speculation until we get final proof." (Albawaba.com)

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