TONY
Blair ignored advice that terrorism posed a far greater threat than
Saddam Hussein as he plotted war on Iraq, secret evidence revealed
yesterday. Senior MPs said
in a report spy chiefs believed "al-Qaeda and associated groups
continued to represent by far the greatest threat to Western interests,
and that threat would be heightened by military action against Iraq." Mr
Blair led Britain to believe Iraq had large quantities of chemical and
biological agents - some of which could be mobilised in 45 minutes -
and could arm Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda. But, it was disclosed, he ignored information from the powerful Joint Intelligence Committee that: A STRIKE on Saddam could dramatically increase the risk of terrorists obtaining WMD. SPY chiefs had virtually no intelligence about alleged quantities of chemical or biological agents held by Iraq. THERE was no evidence Iraq provided terror agents to al-Qaeda. The
Government also failed to mention that the claim Saddam could mobilise
weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes referred only to battlefield
rockets and shells, not strategic missiles. Mr
Blair never admitted the spies' concerns. Instead he released a
controversial intelligence dossier, questioned by defence experts,
making the case for war. Last night furious critics of the conflict demanded a full explanation. Calling
for a judicial inquiry into the intelligence against Saddam, Labour MP
Alice Mahon said: "As every week passes, more and more evidence emerges
of the extent to which the country was misled. This is another example
of the misinformation pumped out from No10." Yesterday's
damning disclosures came in a report of evidence to the Commons
Intelligence and Security Committee inquiry into Iraqi WMD. The
ISC, which took evidence from the heads of the JIC and MI6, said: "In
their assessment dated February 10, 2003, the JIC reported there was no
intelligence Iraq had provided chemical and biological (CB) materials
to al-Qaeda, or of Iraqi intentions to conduct CB attacks using Iraqi
intelligence officials or their agents. "However,
it judged that in the event of imminent regime collapse there would be
a risk of transfer of such material, whether or not as a deliberate
Iraqi regime policy. "The
JIC assessed that any collapse of the Iraqi regime would increase the
risk of chemical and biological warfare technology or agents finding
their way into the hands of terrorists." The
committee said the JIC should have made it clear the 45 minute claim -
repeated four times in the intelligence dossier - did not refer to
strategic missiles. Their
report said: "The claim was always likely to attract attention because
it was arresting detail the public had not seen before. "The
fact it was assessed to refer to battlefield chemical and biological
munitions and their movement on the battlefield, not to any other form
of chemical or biological attack, should have been highlighted. "This was unhelpful to an understanding of the issue." The
committee also criticised the Government for failing to spell out that
spy chiefs had virtually no intelligence about alleged quantities of
chemical or biological agents held by Iraq. The dossier had declared
that Iraq "continued to produce chemical and biological weapons". But
the committee said: "The absence of detail on amounts of agents
produced could give the impression that Saddam was actively producing
both chemical and biological weapons and significant amounts of agents. "However,
the JIC did not know what had been produced and in what quantities. It
had assessed, based on intelligence, that production had taken place. "We
believe that this uncertainty should have been highlighted to give a
balanced view of Saddam's chemical and biological capacity." The
committee also said it was "unfortunate" a reference was removed from
the final dossier which made it clear Saddam posed no threat to the UK
mainland. In his evidence
to the ISC, Mr Blair virtually shrugged off the terror warning saying
only time would tell if he had made the right choice. He
said: "One of the most difficult aspects of this is that there was
obviously a danger that in attacking Iraq you ended up provoking the
very thing you were trying to avoid. "On
the other hand, I think you had to ask the question could you really,
as a result of that fear, leave the possibility that in time this
developed into a nexus between terrorism and WMD in any event? "This
is my judgment and it remains my judgment. I suppose time will tell
whether it's true or not." The ISC said it accepted that there had been
no political interference in the production of the dossier. They said: "The dossier was not 'sexed up' by Alastair Campbell or anyone else." Joining
calls for an inquiry, Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy said last night:
"Before the war the Liberal Democrats and others from across the
political spectrum warned that unilateral military action against Iraq
risked stirring up even more terrorism and increased the likelihood of
terrorists obtaining WMD. "It
now transpires that intelligence chiefs gave the Prime Minister exactly
the same warning privately, yet Tony Blair chose to overrule them." Former
minister Glenda Jackson said: "The whole report gives the lie to claims
that there was no political input into the decisions which led to the
war." But Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw said: "The JIC has not been subject to political
pressure. Its independence has not been compromised in any way. The
Government welcomes these findings."
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