The head of Iraq's nuclear programme under Saddam Hussein has said Iraq destroyed its nuclear weapons programme in 1991 and never restarted it. Jafar Dhia Jafar told the BBC sanctions and inspections worked in stopping the reconstitution of the programme. He also said Iraq's chemical and biological weapons programmes were destroyed after the first Gulf War and never reactivated. Mr Jafar ran Iraq's nuclear programme for nearly 25 years. One of the most powerful arguments in the case for war on Iraq was the US and UK's claim Saddam Hussein was trying to restart his nuclear programme. But Mr Jafar, whom the former Iraqi leader originally asked to build the country's nuclear bomb, said all nuclear development stopped in July 1991, under the orders of Saddam Hussein. There was no capability - there was no chemical or biological or any of what are called weapons of mass destruction. [more
] Pictured above: Weapons Inspectors on a frolic.