Blair Paves Way for Iraq WMD Inquiry

[Barrett808]

Blair Paves Way for Iraq WMD Inquiry
By Katherine Baldwin

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Tony Blair paved the way on Monday for some sort of an inquiry into apparent intelligence failings over Iraq (news - web sites) after Washington bowed to calls for an independent probe into the justification given for war.

Blair's spokesman said the government would say as early as Monday or Tuesday how it planned to address the "valid question" of the whereabouts of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) -- the main Anglo-American motive for the conflict.

"The prime minister believes it's right at this time to address the question of 'where are the WMD'," the spokesman said. "We are close to announcing how we are going to address these questions but we want first to announce that to parliament."

"The issue is the valid question being asked about 'where are the WMD and how that compares to the intelligence,"' he added.

Pressure has been mounting on Blair to explain apparent flaws in intelligence that led him to state, prior to the war, that Iraq was a "serious and current" threat and that it had continued to produce chemical and biological weapons.

A move by President Bush to appoint an independent commission on Iraq intelligence -- confirmed on Monday -- turned up the heat on Blair to do the same.

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&ncid=721&e=3&u=/nm/20040202/wl_nm/britain_dc

[annagull]

1. It's probably easier to fix an inquiry the second time

I'm sure there are plenty of Lord Hutton clones ready for the job.

[mike_c]

2. utter whitewash....

They've already defined the "investigation" in a context made of smoke and mirrors. While the intelligence about Iraq's weapons might or might not have been bad, it's ALWAYS the users of intel who are ultimately responsible. By its very nature, intel is conjecture. Blair and Bush should be asking why and how they used such conjecture to justify war, not pointing their fingers at the intelligence agencies.

[PaDUer]

3. Guess he was on

the phone w/ his buddy..

[stepnw1f]

4. Email your state reps

Let them know.....http://www.congress.org/