But NBC News has learned that long before the war the Bush administration had several chances to wipe out his terrorist operation and perhaps kill Zarqawi himself \ufffd but never pulled the trigger.

In June 2002, U.S. officials say intelligence had revealed that Zarqawi and members of al-Qaida had set up a weapons lab at Kirma, in northern Iraq, producing deadly ricin and cyanide.

The Pentagon quickly drafted plans to attack the camp with cruise missiles and airstrikes and sent it to the White House, where, according to U.S. government sources, the plan was debated to death in the National Security Council.

\ufffdPeople were more obsessed with developing the coalition to overthrow Saddam than to execute the president\ufffds policy of pre-emption against terrorists.\ufffd

\ufffd Roger Cressey
Terrorism expert
\ufffdHere we had targets, we had opportunities, we had a country willing to support casualties, or risk casualties after 9/11 and we still didn\ufffdt do it,\ufffd said Michael O\ufffdHanlon, military analyst with the Brookings Institution.

Four months later, intelligence showed Zarqawi was planning to use ricin in terrorist attacks in Europe.

The Pentagon drew up a second strike plan, and the White House again killed it. By then the administration had set its course for war with Iraq.