US, Russia: Iraq had no WMDs

The US and Russia have agreed to dismantle the UN agency that searched Iraq for weapons of mass destruction and affirm that Saddam Hussein's government had no such arms at the time of the US invasion in March 2003. The Security Council will adopt a resolution the last week in June to close the UN Monitoring, Inspection and Verification Commission, created in 1999 to search Iraq for biological and chemical weapons, Belgian and British diplomats said. The measure will also end the UN nuclear watchdog agency's mandate to look for nuclear arms in Iraq. UN inspectors found no banned weapons before or since the invasion. The Bush administration's justification for invading Iraq and toppling its government was the alleged threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Iraq has complained about paying $50 million since the invasion to maintain the agency, known as UNMOVIC.