In another email, Dr Gee said the head of the Defence Department, Ric Smith, told him the department did not receive a copy of the letter even though Dr Gee was working in Iraq under contract to it. Dr Gee said senior defence officials told him the Department of Foreign Affairs "had not passed the letter on to Defence".

Last night, a spokesman for Mr Downer said the minister "did not recall" receiving Dr Gee's letter but said he would check. But he described as "a conspiracy theory" material showing that the letter had not been given to the head of the Defence Department. "I have heard a lot of conspiracy theories over the years, but I have not heard that one before."

However, documents given to the Herald, including Dr Gee's resignation letter and his emails to another senior weapons inspector, Rod Barton, reveal serious efforts to contain his findings.

Mr Downer has previously admitted that he was briefed personally by Dr Gee on the expert's return from Iraq. But Mr Downer has never revealed the contents of that briefing. From the emails, it appears Mr Downer received the damning findings months before he and the Prime Minister, John Howard, accepted that no weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq.

One month after his briefing with Dr Gee, Mr Downer met the US head of the Iraq Survey Group, Dr Charles Duelfer. At their press conference, Mr Downer insisted the weapons hunt in Iraq "was still a work in progress" and he could not draw conclusions.

In the exercise, a target missile is to be launched from Kodiak, Alaska, between 7 a.m. and noon Pacific time (1400 and 1900 GMT), weather permitting. A backup launch window has been scheduled for Friday.

For the first time, the ground-based interceptor missile is to be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in central California. Previous launches have been from Ft. Greely, Alaska, the other U.S. silo site.

Although an intercept is possible, the main goal is "to collect data on overall system performance and interceptor sensor technology," said Richard Lehner, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency.

In the 10 full-fledged flight intercept tests to date, only five have shot down target missiles. Still, Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, head of the Missile Defense Agency, has said he is confident the shield would have worked against a U.S.-bound North Korean missile if a decision had been made to shoot it down.

North Korea test-fired seven missiles over the U.S. Independence Day holiday, including for the first time a long-range, multistage Taepodong 2. It failed about 40 seconds after launch, falling harmlessly into the Sea of Japan.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Sunday that he wanted to have a full-scale test "where we actually put all the pieces together. That just hasn't happened."

The Missile Defense Agency plans to stage its next full-fledged flight intercept test -- where a shoot-down is the chief goal -- late this year or early next year, Lehner said.

Congressional and other critics say the tests to date provide only the illusion of a shield, relying on highly scripted events that bear scant relation to any real attack.

President George W. Bush in 2002 announced the United States would start operating the initial elements of a missile defense system by the end of 2004 to defend against a limited attack from a country like North Korea or Iran.

Since then, U.S. missile defense spending has risen to nearly $10 billion a year, the Pentagon's single biggest annual outlay to develop a weapons system.

Rumsfeld also said North Korea does not pose a military threat to South Korea, calling Pyongyang more of a danger as a distributor of weapons to other countries and perhaps terrorists.

"I think the real threat that North Korea poses in the immediate future is more one of proliferation than a danger to South Korea," he said.

Rumsfeld said it is clear that the overall condition of the North Korean military has deteriorated.

Later Sunday, Rumsfeld met with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Ivanov. They discussed the Middle East and Afghanistan, as well as Russian concerns about an announced U.S. plan to remove nuclear warheads from some Trident long-range missiles aboard submarines and replace them with conventional warheads for potential use on short notice against terrorist targets.

As he recites his oath of service, administered by the Army's No. 2 ranking officer, Gen. Richard Cody, Obleton will become the 64,200th Army soldier to re-enlist this year - allowing the Army to meet its retention goal a full month before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.

"The Army is a good career, there are a lot of benefits," he said this week from his post at Fort Campbell. "This is something I signed up for. It's a job. (The war) doesn't worry me."

While the Army struggled last year to meet recruitment goals, it has been able to keep soldiers in the service by using a growing list of incentives and escalating bonuses to shower troops with money, schooling and career advancements.

So far this year, the Army has doled out an average bonus of $14,000, to eligible soldiers, for a total of $610 million in extra payments.

The re-enlistments come despite the escalating casualties on the Iraq battlefield - where more than 2,600 troops have lost their lives since March 2003. And they have enabled the Army to meet its retention goal every year since 1998.

"The bonuses have a lot to do with it, along with a feeling of accomplishment that comes with doing their mission," said Army spokesman Henry Minitrez. He also said that retention rates have even gone up for some of the military's high-profile units - such as the 82nd Airborne or 101st Airborne divisions - when they return home from Iraq or Afghanistan.

Both the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve expect to meet their re-enlistment goals for this fiscal year, which are 34,875 and 17,712, respectively. Both totals are slightly higher than last year's goals.

The number of expected and confirmed re-enlistments dipped in 2003, the year the war began, but has increased since then.

It was the schooling opportunity, rather than a bonus, that was the attraction for Obleton, 35 and originally from Columbus, Ga.

While much of his unit - the 594th Transportation Company attached to the 101st Airborne Division - may be heading back to Iraq, he plans to stay in Kentucky for now and attend school to become an Army career counselor.

"I've known this was going to be a career for me," said Obleton, whose wife is also in the Army and intends to stay. "We made this decision together. We are both doing well and we've advanced in our careers."

Back in 1996 when he joined the Army reserves or a year later when he moved to the active Army, going to war wasn't an issue. But in January 2003, he was sent to Kuwait and was among those first units traveling back and forth across the border into Iraq in Army convoys.

He was there for seven months and then went back in June 2004 for a full year. The second tour, he said, "was more intense. You felt the threat." But, unlike many units, everyone in his company came back alive.

And once he finishes school, he would be happy to make a third trip to Iraq.

"These are the things we're trained to take on," he said. "We're still there. Our mission isn't complete."

CBC's Carolyn Dunn said that Col. Steve Williams has issued a warning to the Taliban in the area, saying that if they don't want to die, they had better leave Pashmul.

Coalition forces have been trying to take control of the area, which is about 25 kilometres west of Kandahar. It is the site where several Canadians have been killed and wounded.

The vast majority of the civilians have already fled, mostly to Kandahar, due to the ongoing hostilities. But there are grape farmers are in the area to work in the vineyards.

In the past, coalition forces have gone into the area, confronted the insurgents and left soon after the battle was over, only to lose control of the area to the Taliban. NATO said this operation will be different.

International forces plan to stay in the area, maintain a security presence and offer humanitarian assistance for anyone displaced by the offensive.

Canada has about 2,200 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan.