U.S. says Saddam left hints of WMDs

A bomber killed at least five people in Baghdad.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fallen Iraqi President Saddam Hussein did not have stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, but left signs that he had idle programs he someday hoped to revive, the top U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq concludes in a draft report due out soon.
According to people familiar with the 1,500-page report, the head of the Iraq Survey Group, Charles Duelfer, will find that Saddam was importing banned materials, working on unmanned aerial vehicles in violation of U.N. agreements and maintaining a dual-use industrial sector that could produce weapons.
Duelfer also says Iraq only had small research and development programs for chemical and biological weapons.
As Duelfer puts the finishing touches on his report, he concludes Saddam had intentions of restarting weapons programs at some point, after suspicion and inspections from the international community waned.
After a year and a half in Iraq, however, the United States has found no weapons of mass destruction -- its chief argument for going to war and overthrowing the regime.
Suicide blast
Meanwhile, a suicide attacker detonated a car packed with explosives in front of a row of parked police cars in central Baghdad today, killing at least five people and wounding 20, officials said.
A half-dozen police cars were blocking a bridge leading to the central Haifa Street, where Iraqi and American forces were conducting raids, when a blue Chevrolet drove up to them, policeman Ammar Ali said. Police told the driver to stop, but he continued to advance and exploded his vehicle in the middle of the parked cars, he said.
U.S. airstrikes
The bombing came after the United States launched new airstrikes on the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah and nearby villages today. The United States put the death toll at 60 insurgents; Iraqi officials said 44 people were dead, including women and children.
The Iraqi Health Ministry said five people were killed and 20 wounded in the car bombing. Thousands of shoppers streamed from the area after police fired shots to disperse the crowd.
"I saw human flesh and blood in the street, then I fled," said Mouayad Shehab as he escaped the scene.
The blast carved a crater about six feet wide and three feet deep. Debris, including at least five shells which apparently came from the vehicle, was scattered over a wide area.
The police vehicles had been helping to seal off the area around Haifa Street, where American and Iraqi forces had raided suspected insurgent hide-outs in the morning, sparking a gunbattle. More than 50 suspects were detained during the sweeps on Haifa street, a virtual "no-go" area for U.S. forces, said ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Kidnappers
The clashes came a day after a team of kidnappers grabbed two Americans and a Briton in a dawn raid on their home on a leafy Baghdad neighborhood -- a bold abduction that underlines the increasing danger for foreigners in the embattled capital as violence soars ahead of national elections planned for early next year.
Insurgents have turned to kidnappings and spectacular bombings as the weapon of choice to pressure the United States and its allies to pull out of Iraq and embarrass the interim government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Even in the heavily guarded Green Zone -- where the U.S. Embassy is located -- foreigners were warned in the last 10 days to be on guard against possible kidnapping attempts, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.
More than 100 foreigners have been kidnapped, some in a bid to collect lucrative ransoms. Many have been executed, creating a seigelike mentality among the dwindling international community.
President speaks
Iraqi interim President Ghazi al-Yawer, on a visit to The Hague, Netherlands, on Thursday insisted that security was Iraq's priority and that it was "a little bit too premature to decide" whether elections would be held as planned.
The U.S. Embassy identified the Americans kidnapped Thursday as Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong, but the identity of the British man was not disclosed.
Body found
Early today, 40 miles north of Baghdad, police found the body of a man they believed to be a Westerner. The body was pulled from the Tigris River near the central Iraqi village of Yethrib, said Capt. Hakim al-Azawi, the head of security at Tikrit's Teaching Hospital. The man, described as tall and well built with blonde hair, had been shot in the back of the head. His hands were cuffed behind his back.