US President George W. Bush nearly declared the war in Iraq over, and for the first time suggested that Baghdad may have destroyed the banned arms at the core of his argument for military action.

US-led forces scouring Iraq for the chemical and biological weapons that Saddam Hussein always denied possessing have yet to turn up any evidence to back up Bush's case for using force to topple and oust the Iraqi leader.

"But we know he had them, and whether he destroyed them, moved them or hid them, we're going to find out the truth," Bush said here at a factory that makes the Abrams tank, which played a key role in the war in Iraq.

The US leader did not say that the troops now occupying Iraq might come up completely empty in their search, telling a rowdy crowd of supporters that "it's going to take time to find them."

"And one thing is for certain: Saddam Hussein no longer threatens America with weapons of mass destruction," he said during a day-long trip here to drum up support for his embattled tax-cut plan.

Though Bush conjured up images of Iraqi nuclear, biological and chemical weapons pointed at its neighbors and ready for sale to terrorist groups, US officials have lately downplayed expectations that US-led forces will find those weapons.

Instead, they suggest that Iraqi officials -- having surrendered or been captured -- hold the key to tracking down caches of weapons or elements of arms programs Iraq was not allowed to have under UN resolutions.

Bush, who has said the war will not be over until Army General Tommy Franks -- the commander of US forces in Iraq -- says so, nearly declared victory Thursday in remarks earlier in Canton, Ohio.

"We fought a war in Afghanistan and now we have finished a war -- in the process of finishing a war in Iraq," he said, adding that "the mission is not complete. Our forces still face danger in Iraq."

"Work is not done. There are still dangers and challenges to remain. But one thing is certain: Saddam Hussein is no longer in power," he said.

"We're not going to lose our focus. We're going to press on until the mission is complete," said Bush, who cited growing cooperation from Iraqis "with first hand knowledge" of chemical or biological arms programs.

"That's important because the regime of Saddam Hussein spent years hiding and disguising his weapons. He tried to fool the United Nations and did for 12 years by hiding these weapons," said the US leader.

Washington has opposed the return of UN disarmament inspectors, saying that its own forces and those of its allies in Iraq have replaced the world body's experts in the search for weapons of mass destruction.

PHOTO CAPTION

US President George W. Bush (R) talks with NBC's Nightly News anchorman Tom Brokaw (L) after he toured the Lima Army Tank Plant in Lima, Ohio(AFP/Stephen Jaffe)