Hoon withdraws claim that protection suits are 'proof' of chemical weapons

Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, was forced yesterday to retract claims that the discovery of more than 100 bio-chemical protection suits in Iraq was "categorical" proof that Saddam Hussein was preparing to use weapons of mass destruction.

The Ministry of Defence revealed that the Royal Irish Regiment discovered the suits and gas masks, which were in good working order, in a command post abandoned by Iraqi troops in the Rumaila oilfield of southern Iraq.

Mr Hoon originally told a press briefing at the MoD that the find showed categorically that "the Iraqi regime is prepared to use weapons of mass destruction". But when a reporter pointed out that similar suits were used by Iraq in the 1980s to protect against chemical attack from Iran, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, the Chief of Defence Staff, conceded that the equipment found was not offensive. "There is no evidence so far in what we've found," he said. "They ought to be defensive protection suits and respirators and so forth ... So far we didn't find anything which was offensive, no." The kit was "effective, well cared for and in good working order", he added.

Mr Hoon later admitted that the evidence was "obviously not conclusive" evidence that the Iraqis were set to use chemical weapons against UK or US troops. But he added: "It's clearly indicative of an intention; otherwise why equip his own forces to deal with a threat which he knows we do not have? So it must only be to protect his forces from his own use of those weapons."

Mr Hoon repeated Tony Blair's warning this week that any Iraqi commander who sanctions the use of such weapons would be committing a war crime and "will be held personally responsible for his action".

Iraqi PoWs have given details to US forces of chemical protection suits issued to them, but until now no clear evidence had been found.

The MoD showed a film recorded in recent days of soldiers from the Royal Irish Regiment searching a recently deserted Iraqi command position in the Rumaila oilfield. Sir Michael said the Iraqi troops had "left in a hurry", abandoning equipment and paperwork, which was now being examined by intelligence staff. Sir Michael added that the documentation may offer information about Iraq's plans to use weapons of mass destruction.

"The use of chemical and biological weapons against our forces has always been one of our chief concerns," he said. "We certainly remember the terrible results of their use in the past, and making sure that the regime does not get the opportunity to deploy these weapons has been a high priority in our planning and target selection."

Mr Hoon said no non-lethal chemical weapons such as CS gas had been used in the campaign by the UK. Britain was fully signed up to the Chemical Weapons Convention which prohibited the use of such weapons in conflict.