Bern, Switzerland ? The United States believes it has found at least $300 million Saddam Hussein hid in banks, yet it doesn’t have enough evidence to get countries such as Syria and Switzerland to hand over the money, U.S. and European officials told The Associated Press.

The funds at stake could go to the Iraq insurgency or the country’s reconstruction — depending on who gets it first. What troubles investigators more is that much of Saddam’s cash may already be gone.

The weak U.S. intelligence and the slow-moving investigation, now in its 11th month, have given suspects more than enough time to empty accounts and possibly transfer some funds to Iraq’s insurgency, which has cost hundreds of American lives, officials involved in the search said.

Much to the frustration of the Bush administration, countries that acted quickly on relatively weak evidence involving al-Qaida funds have been unwilling to do the same on Iraq, partly because of growing doubts about the quality of U.S. intelligence.

For months, Swiss officials have asked Washington to provide more information on an account belonging to a Panamanian-registered front company that U.S. officials believe is tied to the former Iraqi regime. The account contains the equivalent of $80 million, and U.S. officials are still trying to gather enough information for the Swiss to act.

The largest sums uncovered so far are in Middle East banks. U.S. officials are hoping Syrian officials will be encouraged to hand over money once the Swiss do. But there are also concerns that pressuring the Syrians, without sufficient evidence, could hamper important cooperation on Iraq and the war on terrorism.

In October, U.S. investigators went to the Syrian capital, Damascus, and Amman, Jordan, looking for hidden Iraqi accounts. Syria has frozen about $250 million but won’t give the money to the Iraq fund because it can’t be sure it belonged to the regime.