Banned Weapons Remain Unseen Foe

Facing mounting criticism for the failure to find any unconventional weapons so far, the Pentagon is in the process of transferring responsibility for the hunt from the Army's 75th Exploitation Task Force to the new Iraq Survey Group -- the third and most ambitious reconfiguration since mid-March. But the transition, which won't be completed before mid-July, has created new delays and confusion.

The reorganization, commanders say, will help them find the weapons of mass destruction that the Bush administration has insisted are hidden in Iraq. For now, however, much of the hunt is on hold as weapons teams await new people, training and orders.

Several of the seven current "sensitive site teams," or SSTs, conducted their last mission June 2 and have been told not to expect another until June 25 or later. Dozens of team members now spend each day washing clothes, taking naps and fighting boredom.

"We're here to answer the big question," said Lt. Cody Strong, a tactical intelligence officer. "You'd think if this was really a priority, we'd have nonstop missions."

Not all work has stopped. Two other missile and drone-hunting teams were in northern Iraq all week, and two sensitive site teams were sent Thursday to help interrogate a suspect in Baghdad.

An additional site team returned Wednesday from a grueling four-day trip to 15 sites in southern Iraq, the final ones on their target roster. In many cases, intelligence folders prepared for each site failed to note that bombing had turned the target to rubble.

"It's kind of frustrating -- futile really -- for us to drive eight hours to check out a crater," said Marine Lt. Col. Robert Q. Rowsey, commander of the team. "All of our targets were put on a list before the war."

Other team leaders complained that most intelligence folders appeared to be based solely on analysis of satellite imagery. Again and again, the intelligence proved wildly off-base.

"The target folder for Uday's palace at Lake Habbaniyah was real clean," said U.S. Army Maj. Ronald Hann Jr., a highly decorated arms control expert who heads SST-6, referring to a complex for Hussein's older son. " 'There's the warehouse. There's the poison gas storage tanks.' Well, the warehouse was a carport. It still had two cars inside. And the tanks had propane for the kitchen."

A veteran U.S. intelligence official here said he is furious over the inaccurate intelligence reports that have sent weapons teams racing to a series of empty sites.