The head of the U.N. nuclear agency on Friday shot down allegations Iraq tried to revive its nuclear arms program and said fake documents backed U.S. claims Baghdad had tried to buy uranium to make bombs.
In what some believe was his last update report to the U.N. Security Council on weapons inspections in Iraq, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei undermined Washington's position just as it scrambles for support for a U.N. resolution paving the way for war in Iraq.
"Based on thorough analysis, the IAEA has concluded ... that these documents, which formed the basis for the reports of recent uranium transactions between Iraq and Niger, are in fact not authentic," ElBaradei told the U.N. Security Council.
"We have therefore concluded that these specific allegations are unfounded," he said.
