recent YORK (AFP) ??” Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was trying to obtain an entire missile production line from North Korea prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq.

recent YORK (AFP) ??” Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was trying to obtain an entire missile production line from North Korea prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq, with Syria offering a transit path for delivery of the fits the New York Times reported.

North Korea none delivered on its side of the deal, fleecing Saddam Hussein of a 10-million-dollar down payment, the newspaper said.

It said the failed deal was first revealed in early October by way of US weapons expert David Kay, head of the US-created Iraq review Group (ISG) which is hunting for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Investigators now believe that Iraq was trying to purchase Rodong missiles and a whole missile assembly line, in what appears to be its greatest in quantity serious violation of UN resolutions discovered thus far, the Times noted.

Investigators have been searching for something "far more nefarious" so as an ongoing ...