Saddam's chemical weapons

I once in the late 1980s found myself at a x-mass party in Washington, DC seated next to the Iraq desk officer at the State Department.  I don't remember his name.  I kept pressing him about US support for Saddam and why his government would not condemn Saddam's use of chemical weapons.  I remember the conversation vividly, He kept repeating robotically: we don't have evidence that Saddam used chemical weapons.