LONDON, October 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair privately admitted before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction that posed a "real and present danger", although he publicly claimed otherwise, his former foreign secretary Robin Cook stressed.

The ex-secretary underlined he was "deeply troubled" by the prime minister's response, BBC said.

"Tony made no attempt to pretend that what Hans Blix might report would make any difference to the countdown to invasion," he said.

Cook's comments are included in a book based on diaries he kept during the tense period in the run-up to war, serialized in the Sunday Times.

The London-based newspaper said the revelations shattered the case for war put forward by Blair.

Cook said that in a meeting on March 5 he told Blair he believed Saddam's weapons capability was limited to battlefield chemical munitions which could be used against British troops if they went to war, but could not otherwise threaten British interests.

When asked whether Blair was not troubled by the prospect of such weapons being used against British troops, Cook recalled Blair’s answer was: "Yes, but all the effort he has had to put into concealment makes it difficult for him to assemble them quickly for use."

Cook further indicated that Blair's office "accepted that Saddam had no real WMD which he could credibly use against city targets and if they themselves believed that he could not reassemble his chemical weapons in a credible timescale for use on the battlefield, just how much of a threat did they really think Saddam represented?"

In other extracts from the book, "Point of Departure", Cook says the head of the Joint Intelligence Committee, John Scarlett, "assented" when he suggested Iraq had no WMD which could target large cities, BBC said.

The ex-secretary asserted that a "large number of ministers" spoke up in cabinet against British involvement in the U.S.-led military action.

Blix has said the U.N. charter allowed self-defense against an attack, but that the U.S.-led forces had failed to prove Iraq posed a "manifest and imminent" threat -- the U.N. criteria for military action.

"The intelligence was not so strong in reality that it could be said to be manifest.

"And the second one would be the imminence of it. If they can develop weapons of mass destruction in five years or 10 years, well that certainly is not imminent."

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The idea that the prime minister ever said that Saddam Hussein didn't have weapons of mass destruction is absurd.

"His views have been consistent throughout, both publicly and privately, as his cabinet colleagues know."

The failure to find alleged WMD, BBC report that the government exaggerated intelligence on Iraq, and the subsequent death in July 2003 of British government weapons expert David Kelly, have triggered the worst crisis of Blair's six years in power.

After six moths of leaving no stone unturned in the U.S.-occupied country, a group of CIA-hired Iraq Survey Group (ISG) inspectors failed to find any traces of alleged Iraqi WMD, the pretext used by Washington and London to unleash war on the oil-rich country without the U.N. mandate.

This comes one day after Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad charged Washington knew Iraq had no WMD.

"I don't believe that they didn't know. If they suspected that there were (WMD in Iraq), they should have given Hans Blix a chance to carry out a full investigation," the veteran politician was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

Washington’s decision to attack Iraq was hasty and made without sufficient proof, particularly since no WMD have been found in that country until today, Mahathir said.

It was sad that the Bush administration made the drastic decision to attack Iraq, killing so many people in the process, based merely on grounds that were not fully proven, he said.

The Malaysian government fiercely opposed the U.S.-led war on Iraq and has called for a greater United Nations role in rebuilding the country.

Meanwhile, Jordan denied Sunday Iraq’s alleged MWD have been moved across its border, as suggested by ISG head David Kay, AFP said.

"Everyone knows Jordan's borders are very tightly sealed and it is surprising that this question is even raised," said Information Minister Nabil Sharif.

In an interview with al-Dustour newspaper, Sharif said: "This question has never been raised with us despite our constant contact with the interested American parties."

When asked about the possible movement of WMD before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Kay said: "We have multiple reports from Iraqis of substances being moved across borders."

"We've got information indicating movement to Iran, Syria, Jordan, essentially all states that border the north with Iraq, that's not surprising those routes have been long used."