If there's one thing Americans know about the 2003 invasion of Iraq, it's that the Bush

administration since Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and it turned out

that he didn't.

Weapons of mass destruction, WMD.

The phrase had been around for a while, but it wasn't in common usage until 2002.

That's when it took off.

The American dialect society named it word of the year.

Iraq is in possession of weapons of mass destruction.

We know they have weapons of mass destruction, weapons of mass destruction, weapons of mass destruction,

in the context of Iraq, WMD mainly referred to a few things.

Chemical weapons, like mustard gas, biological weapons, like anthrax, or most frightening,

nuclear weapons.

To understand why the Bush administration thought Iraq had WMD, you have to go back to the

early 90s.

The United Nations wanted weapons inspectors, and I went to this meeting to suggest some

weapons inspectors, and the chairman of the committee said, well, actually we're thinking

of you.

Rod Barton was a former Australian intelligence officer.

He first went to investigate Saddam's weapons programs in 1991.

Saddam was supposed to be declaring and destroying any weapons of mass destruction.

It was part of an agreement he'd made with the United Nations at the end of the Gulf

War, so he could stay in power.

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