Manhattan ? Although he defended the war in Iraq, U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts said Saturday he was not sure Congress would have authorized force based on the evidence it now has about Saddam Hussein’s efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction.

Roberts said he was concerned that U.S. weapons inspectors led by David Kay have not found actual weapons, though Roberts believes Saddam had a weapons program and managed to conceal it.

The Kansas Republican said his committee has not finished a report from its examination of prewar intelligence, contrary to a published article that said the panel is preparing a report highly critical of the intelligence.

Roberts said in a statement Friday that remarks he made to a Washington Post reporter were “mischaracterized” and quipped Saturday, “That means you shouldn’t have talked to the reporter.”

Roberts spoke Saturday to about 40 Kansas editors and publishers, to whom he defended the decision to go to war in Iraq.

“There’s no question the world is better off without Saddam,” he said. “I’m not too sure that the fact that we haven’t found a specific WMD doesn’t mean there wasn’t any. The question is, what happened to it and what was his system in four years to conceal and deny his whole program? That’s really important, how he did that.”

He added: “Saddam Hussein did have a WMD. We do not know whether it was destroyed or dispersed or hidden, or in the worst-case scenario, shipped off shore.

Asked whether he thinks Congress would have supported a war in Iraq with only the existing evidence about weapons of mass destruction, Roberts said, “I don’t know.

“Right now, we’re seeing a lot of people who say that be-cause we have-n’t found the specific evidence or the actual weaponry, that they would not have voted to go to war,” he said.

Roberts said 600,000 tons of Iraqi military equipment had yet to be tested for traces of biological or chemical weapons compounds. Also, some equipment that can be used for legitimate purposes also can be used to manufacture such weapons, he said.

“I’m concerned by the lack of significant results to date, but I am going to resist the temptation to make any hasty predictions about the ultimate outcome of the findings,” Roberts said. “This is not an easy undertaking. Dr. Kay wants more time, and we need to give him that.”

Roberts said Kay had evidence that Saddam had programs related to weapons of mass destruction, including a prison camp for testing biological and chemical weapons components on human subjects.

“There is much more work to be done,” Roberts said. “I hope that we’ll have a more definitive conclusion the next few months.”

During a Friday hearing by Senate Democrats, former CIA officers said they have heard from current officers about pressure exerted on them.

But Roberts said there was no evidence that analysts were pressured in any way.

“The committee has interviewed over 100 members of the intelligence committee, and I’m talking about analysts who have had ample opportunity to provide a comprehensive explanation of how and why they reached their conclusions, and to date, none of them have indicated there has been any pressure or intimidation or coercion on the part of the administration to shape that intelligence product.”