Final answer:
From 2001–2009, concerns over possible weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq led to the justification and commencement of the Iraq War. It was later found that Iraq had no WMDs, casting doubt on the intelligence used to justify the war.
Step-by-step explanation:
Regarding the period from 2001–2009, there were significant events involving discussions and actions related to weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in the context of the Iraq War. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States and the United Kingdom raised serious concerns that Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, might be in possession of WMDs. This belief was a key factor in the initiation of the Iraq War. The subsequent invasion of Iraq, named Operation Iraqi Freedom, was justified in part by the goal of locating and eliminating these supposed WMDs.
However, the evidence supporting the existence of WMDs in Iraq was highly controversial. High-profile figures like Secretary of State Colin Powell presented arguments to international bodies such as the United Nations, citing intelligence reports of WMDs that were later shown to be flawed or false. Ultimately, after extensive searches by U.N. inspectors and coalition forces, no WMDs were found in Iraq. The failure to discover these weapons cast doubt on the pre-war intelligence and caused significant damage to the credibility of the U.S. administration at the time.