] WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged
] Thursday that he saw no "smoking gun, concrete evidence"
] of ties between Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaida terror
] network, but insisted that Iraq had dangerous weapons and
] needed to be disarmed by force.
]
] Speaking at a State Department news conference, Powell
] openly disagreed with a private think tank report which
] maintained that Iraq was not an imminent threat to the
] United States. And the secretary defended the case he
] made before the United Nations for a U.S.-led war to
] force Saddam from power.