Washington: United States' chief weapons investigator in Iraq has said Saddam Hussein's priority at the time of last year's invasion was defeating economic sanctions, not Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).

Testifying before the US Congress about his report on Iraq's alleged weapons programme, Charles Duelfer said, Saddam had destroyed his stock of chemical and biological weapons after the first Gulf War.

"Sanctions limited his ambitions and took an enormous toll on Iraqi society," the report said.

Iraq's nuclear programme "decayed" in the 12 years after 1991, although Hussein never abandoned his nuclear ambitions.

The former Iraqi leader tried to keep knowledgeable scientists together, but the sanctions harmed that effort, Duelfer said.

The former UN inspector and the personal representative of the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) Director said, the former Iraqi President, nevertheless had plans to restart his programme.

But after weapons inspectors left Iraq in 1998, Hussein focused his attention on ending the sanctions imposed following his invasion of Kuwait, Duelfer said.

Duelfer said, a threat remained as chemical weapons could be used against US and coalition forces, pointing out to information earlier this year that Iraqi scientists had linked up with foreign terrorists operating there.

A series of raids beginning in March 2004, Duelfer said, prevented the problem from "becoming a major threat".

On biological weapons, Duelfer reports that Saddam "secretly destroyed existing stocks of biological weapons and agents in 1991-1992" but chose to initially hide facilities that could produce new ones under the guise of an animal feed programme.

Saddam Hussein "believed possession of WMD deterred the US from going to Baghdad in 1991," he said.

The former Iraqi President, who was debriefed by Duelfer's team, told US interrogators that he undertook the WMD programme because of the threat from Iran, a source close to the former UN inspector said.

As for his relations with the United States, Hussein said he believed that US officials would eventually deal with Baghdad, so the WMD were not aimed for use against America.