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BAGHDAD, Jan 22: US Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Pat Roberts said on Wednesday there was some concern Iraqi weapons of mass destruction had gone to Syria, and Washington vowed to carry on searching for such arms in Iraq.
Pat Roberts, a leading member of US President George W. Bush's Republican Party, said on Wednesday: "I think that there is some concern that shipments of WMD (weapons of mass destruction) went to Syria." He did not elaborate.
Syria, which borders Iraq, has in the past denied US charges it has weapons of mass destruction programmes and supports "terrorist activity". "The jury is still out," US Vice President Dick Cheney said on the failure so far to find any weapons of mass destruction since Saddam Hussein was toppled in April.
"It's going to take some additional considerable period of time to look at all of the cubby holes and...dumps and all the places in Iraq where you might expect to find something like that," Cheney told US National Public Radio.
FENCE-MENDING TRIP: Mr Cheney begins a five-day trip to Europe this week designed to mend fences after bitter divisions in the international community over the Iraq invasion.
A senior Bush administration official said Mr Cheney would join business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Saturday and seek other countries' help in rebuilding Iraq.
"They've got as much at stake in a successful outcome, for example in Iraq, or in dealing effectively with the war on terror or countering the spread of weapons of mass destruction as we do," the official said.
France, Germany and Russia were among states that openly opposed the invasion, while Britain, Spain and Italy were among those who backed Mr Bush. -Reuters
