U.K. Claim On Iraq Weapons Of Mass Destruction Missing In Early Version Of Dossier

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

LONDON: An early version of a British dossier of prewar intelligence on Iraq did not include a key claim about weapons of mass destruction that became vital to former Prime Minister Tony Blair's case for war, the newly published document showed Monday.

The 2002 document insisted that Saddam Hussein's regime had acquired uranium and had equipment necessary for chemical weapons, but did not contain a claim that Iraq could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes - an allegation crucial to Blair's push to back the 2004 U.S.-led invasion that was later discredited.

Campaigners allege that the 45-minute claim was inserted into later drafts of the document on the orders of Blair's press advisers, who were seeking to strengthen the case for invasion - a claim the government has denied.

--
A second document, which was published in February 2003 and became known as the "dodgy dossier," was found to have repeated verbatim parts of an academic study on Iraq's supposed concealment of weapons of mass destruction.

Hans Blix, the former chief weapons inspector for the United Nations, said last year he believed that Blair had replaced "question marks with exclamation marks" in intelligence dossiers to justify the decision to invade Iraq.


Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/18/europe/wmd.php

[dipsydoodle]

1. You can watch the interview here

This is the whole of tonights BBC Newsnight which contains the interview by Jeremy Paxman with the guy who wrote the original dossier before it was amended.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm?survey=no&url=news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm&site=sitelabel&js=yes&uid=74d70b0917eea8ee844fcc6241aeeb3d58f24d45a0e0b1974ab4837a6d23da20

[thunder rising]

2. I understand Iraq has a perfectly good (used only once) gallows.

Fuck 'em Hang 'em. They are murderers.

[fascisthunter]

3. And Some Dumbasses Actually Believe it Was Done to Protect Them

then again, psychos usually tell themselves crap like that to justify the evil that men do.

[Hissyspit]

4. Lesson to criminals: Steal Big.. and don't let them find out you've stolen until years later

when everyone is bored with it and says move on.

Disgusting.

[tanyev]

5. Well, sure. That was before the Bush administration told them to put it in.

[DCKit]

6. To bad they didn't sex-up "Bin Laden Determined to Strike..."

a bit. Perhaps then Condi, George and the gang might have paid attention. Aw, who am I kidding. They get the intelligence they want, not the intelligence that's credible and vetted. How many months did Dick shop around the NIE in an attempt to get someone, anyone, to rewrite it to justify an immediate attack on Iran?

[JohnyCanuck]

7. Foriegn Office worried mention of Israel would harm UK/Israeli relations

How Labour used the law to keep criticism of Israel secret
Richard Norton-Taylor

SNIP

The dossier was made public this week, but the Foreign Office succeeded before a tribunal in having the handwritten mention of Israel kept secret.

The FO never argued that the information would damage national security. The Guardian has seen the full text and a witness statement from a senior Foreign Office official, who argued behind closed doors that any public mention of the candid reference would seriously damage UK/Israeli relations. In the statement, he reveals that in the past five years there have been 10 substantial incidents and 20 more minor ones relating to Israeli concerns about attitudes to their government within Whitehall.

The Information Tribunal, which adjudicates on disputes involving the Freedom of Information Act, agreed to remove the single reference to Israel when it ordered the release of the draft of the Iraqi weapons dossier written by John Williams, the FO's chief information officer at the time.

Along with unfavourable references to the US and Japan, the reference to Israel was written in the margin by someone commenting on the opening paragraph of the Williams draft. It was written against the claim that "no other country (apart from Iraq) has flouted the United Nations' authority so brazenly in pursuit of weapons of mass destruction".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/21/israelandthepalestinians.iraq