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45-minute attack claim blown apart July 8 2003
And he DID misrepresent case to MPs
By James Hardy, Political Editor And Bob Roberts
TONY Blair waged war on Iraq with no "clear intelligence" that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was ready to use them, a damning report said yesterday.
The Defence Ministry document blew apart repeated claims by Mr Blair that Saddam could deploy chemical and biological warheads within 45 minutes.
A second report by the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee accused Mr Blair of "misrepresenting" alleged intelligence evidence to the Commons in the run-up to war.
MPs cleared No 10 spin chief Alastair Campbell of inserting the 45-minute claim into an intelligence report only on the casting vote of their chairman Donald Anderson.
The BBC, which broke the allegation that No 10 doctored the document, said last night: "We believe the decision to highlight the circumstances surrounding the 45-minute claim has been vindicated."
Mr Campbell hit back: "It goes without saying our demand for an apology still stands. The evidence is so overwhelming the BBC story was wrong we should not have to ask."
Mr Blair now faces a grilling from the Liaison Committee over claims that he, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon exaggerated the threat from Saddam to justify a strike on Iraq.
 ACCUSED: Blair
Tory FAC member Richard Ottaway, who backed the conflict, said: "I have reached the conclusion the Government did exaggerate the case for war in the run-up to the critical vote in Parliament."
Ex-Commons leader Robin Cook said: "How did the Government get it so wrong. Why was Parliament presented with a justification for war that was false?"
Last night Iain Duncan Smith demanded an apology from the Premier and led all-party calls for a public inquiry.
The MoD's 48-page report, drawn up by Army officers and civil servants, is the first assessment of the Iraqi war. Iraq, it said, was a "very difficult intelligence target with few sources of information". As a result, there was a "lack of clear intelligence".
Commanders believed the Iraqis may have been willing to use WMD. But, crucially, the report acknowledged it was unclear whether the Iraqis were able to deploy them. It said: "It was judged the regime might use theatre ballistic missiles, and possibly weapons of mass destruction, if it could make the capabilities available for operational use and secure the obedience of commanders."
The eagerly awaited FAC report piled pressure on Mr Blair to explain why Britain went to war on flawed evidence.
MPs studied two dossiers. One, published in September, included the 45-minute claim. The second, "dodgy", dossier — published in February — was largely copied from a PhD thesis on the internet.
The MPs concluded there was no evidence Mr Campbell meddled with the September dossier. One Liberal Democrat, three Tories and one Labour rebel said there was not enough evidence to make a judgment.
In a blunt criticism the committee said the 45-minute claim was given "undue prominence". It added: "Disquiet about claims are unlikely to be dispelled unless more evidence of Iraq's WMD comes to light."
The MPs went on to slam Mr Campbell for the February dossier which they branded "almost wholly counter-productive".
They said: " "By producing such a document the Government undermined the credibility of their case for war. By referring to the document on the floor of the House as 'further intelligence' the Prime Minister — who had not been informed of its provenance — misrepresented its status and inadvertently made a bad situation worse.
"It was fundamentally wrong to allow such a document to be presented to Parliament without ministerial oversight."
The committee blamed the fiasco on the freedom given to Mr Campbell and the shadowy Iraqi Communications Group which drew up the dodgy dossier. At no stage was the dossier shown to ministers or spy chiefs.
The committee said the "jury is still out" on Saddam's WMD. It also said it was "very odd" the Government stuck by claims in the September dossier Iraq was trying to obtain uranium from Niger. The claim had been months earlier exposed as false.
Mr Duncan Smith wrote to Mr Blair last night demanding an apology for "misleading" the Commons, albeit inadvertently, by "misinterpreting" the February dossier.
Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy said: "Tony Blair refused to give evidence to the committee. He now needs to hold an independent inquiry and agree to give evidence."
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