Secret details of Iraq’s campaign to arm itself should be made public to allow people to comprehend the growing military threat, U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore said Wednesday.

Moore, D-Kan., whose district includes eastern Lawrence, said he’d been to four closed-door briefings in the past six weeks that indicated Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was as close as six months from obtaining weapons of mass destruction.

“I wish the president would declassify some of this information,” the congressman said during a Lawrence Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Eldridge Hotel. “If he did, there would be more understanding of the threat.”

Under a threat of war, President Bush has demanded Saddam cooperate with the United Nations to clear the country of banned weapon-making material. There have been no U.N. inspections in Iraq since 1998.

Moore joined all other U.S. House and Senate members from Kansas in voting for a resolution that allows Bush to use military force against Iraq.

However, the congressman said he would prefer a diplomatic solution.