"There are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and Saddam had them and he was developing them continuously," Chalabi said after a meeting with congressional leaders here.

"I think if there is a correct way to look for them, then they will be found," he said.

US lawmaker met with Chalabi to discuss a range of postwar issues, including the pace of Iraqi reconstruction and the prospects finding Saddam.

Chalabi renewed his assertion that deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein remains holed up somewhere inside the country.

"Saddam, I believe, is still alive and he is still inside Iraq working and I think, again, if we look for him in an intelligent way ... he will be found," Chalabi said.

Chalabi also renewed his charge that Saddam is one of the main instigators of continuing attacks against coalition forces in Iraq.

"He has put a bounty ... on the killing of American soldiers," Chalabi said.

"I believe that a US Apache helicopter was shot down by forces who are working under Saddam's control," he said, referring to an incident earlier Thursday in which an Apache helicopter was shot down by hostile fire in western Iraq.

The US military's Central Command (Centcom) said the two-member crew was injured shortly after the crash.

"It is not useful to deny that Saddam is coordinating these activities," Chalabi said.

"There are leaflets in Baghdad, distributed with his picture and with his name and slogan supporting him, so he is active," he said.

Chalabi also renewed his call for swift US action to establish in Iraq a pluralistic, democratic government "that will be at peace with the Iraqi people and with Iraq neighbors committed to the renunciation of weapons of mass destruction," he said.

WAR.WIRE