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Sydney: Destruction of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) was not the prime objective of the US-led war on the Gulf country, but it was the US' desire to bring about a change in regime by installing a pro-US government in the oil-rich country that was behind it.

This was what Australia's premier intelligence analysis agency – Office of National Assessments (ONA) – disclosed to the Australian government in a report recently, the 'Sydney Morning Herald' reported on June 10.

Quoting a former intelligence agency officer, a report in 'Sydney Morning Herald' said the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, then possessed by Iraq, was actually a "secondary issue" for the US. "WMD wasn't the most important issue. In fact, it was seen as a secondary issue," the ex-officer reportedly said.

According to him, the report said, domestic political considerations were also an important factor for waging a war on Iraq.

The officer, identified as Andrew Wilkie, had left ONA in protest on the eve of the war in March.

He said another purpose of the US in attacking Iraq was to prevent its military from losing face in the international arena. "It was also about the credibility of the US military.

"The US sees its military and threat of force as one of its most important foreign policy tools. They had threatened to use force and would lose credibility if they didn't," he added.

Wilkie's revelations assume significance as it came in the wake of reports in British media, saying that the mobile laboratories found in Iraq, said to be built to make chemical and biological weapons, had been supplied by Britain in the late 1980s to produce hydrogen for military balloons.

ANI