U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts said Thursday he was confident Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction would be found but added there would be no “smoking gun” evidence to prove their existence.

Instead, the U.S. government probably will find different pieces of weapons programs that together would have had the potential to produce mass destruction, the Kansas Republican said upon returning from a three-day visit to Iraq.

“It’s going to take some time to uncover Saddam’s weapons programs. This was a program designed to be hidden,” he said. “You can’t dig up every rosebush in Iraq.”

Roberts said he believed the Bush administration had intelligence evidence that it might soon reveal to show the existence of weapons programs, but he declined to elaborate.

Bush has been under fire from some corners for touting the existence of weapons of mass destruction to justify the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. So far, no weapons have been found.

Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that when Congress returned from the Independence Day break, the committee would continue closed-door hearings on pre-war intelligence about Iraq’s weapons programs and whether there was a link between Saddam and al-Qaida terrorists as stated by Bush.

After visiting with commanders and troops and touring Iraq, Roberts said it was crucial to root out Saddam and his sons so the country could progress. He said many Iraqis feared Saddam would return to power.

But despite the continued resistance in some areas of Iraq, Roberts said, morale is high among U.S. troops.

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And, he said, there does not need to be an increase in troop strength, but a more definite plan of rotating troops in and out of the country.

Roberts said that Iraq had the potential to be a prosperous nation but that it would take time. “The country has been devastated by Saddam by every way imaginable,” he said.

He predicted the United States would have to be involved in Iraq’s affairs for 10 years, but he added that U.S. troops would not be there that long.

Roberts also defended a Wednesday remark by Bush, who said, “My answer is, bring them on,” when asked about those in Iraq who would try to harm U.S. troops.

Democrats have called Bush’s remark irresponsible. Roberts said he believed the president was simply expressing confidence in U.S. troops. “Perhaps he could’ve said it in a better way,” he said.