Pentagon officials have insisted that Iraq now is incapable of building nuclear weapons, as its facilities for doing so largely were destroyed in the Gulf War. Iraq had a larger nuclear program than U.S. experts originally believed, though American military officials now think most of the sites have been identified.

The agency has so far dispatched six inspection teams to Iraq in connection with its mandate under U.N. Resolution 687 to "destroy, remove or render harmless" all materials in Iraq that can be used for nuclear weapons."

Sufficient amounts of enriched uranium. U.N. weapons inspectors say Iraq was about 12-18 months away from producing enough weapons-grade enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb.