The Government’s case for going to war in Iraq has been torn apart by the publication of previously suppressed evidence that Tony Blair lied over Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.
A devastating attack on Mr Blair’s justification for military action by Carne Ross, Britain’s key negotiator at the UN, has been kept under wraps until now because he was threatened with being charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act. In the testimony revealed today Mr Ross, 40, who helped negotiate several UN security resolutions on Iraq, makes it clear that Mr Blair must have known Saddam Hussein possessed no weapons of mass destruction. He said that during his posting to the UN, "at no time did HMG [Her Majesty’s Government] assess that Iraq’s WMD (or any other capability) posed a threat to the UK or its interests."
…He also reveals that British officials warned US diplomats that bringing down the Iraqi dictator would lead to the chaos the world has since witnessed. "I remember on several occasions the UK team stating this view in terms during our discussions with the US (who agreed)," he said. "At the same time, we would frequently argue when the US raised the subject, that ‘regime change’ was inadvisable, primarily on the grounds that Iraq would collapse into chaos."
…It shows Mr Ross told the inquiry, chaired by Lord Butler, "there was no intelligence evidence of significant holdings of CW [chemical warfare], BW [biological warfare] or nuclear material" held by the Iraqi dictator before the invasion. "There was, moreover, no intelligence or assessment during my time in the job that Iraq had any intention to launch an attack against its neighbours or the UK or the US," he added. Mr Ross’s evidence directly challenges the assertions by the Prime Minster that the war was legally justified because Saddam possessed WMDs which could be "activated" within 45 minutes and posed a threat to British interests. These claims were also made in two dossiers, subsequently discredited, in spite of the advice by Mr Ross.
…Mr Ross said in late 2002 that he "discussed this at some length with David Kelly", the weapons expert who a year later committed suicide when he was named as the source of a BBC report saying Downing Street had "sexed up" the WMD claims in a dossier. The Butler inquiry cleared Mr Blair and Downing Street of "sexing up" the dossier, but the publication of the Carne Ross evidence will cast fresh doubts on its findings. Mr Ross, 40, was a highly rated diplomat but he resigned because of his misgivings about the legality of the war. He still fears the threat of action under the Official Secrets Act.
On May 1st, 2003, President Bush flew onto the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and made his "Mission Accomplished" speech when the war in Iraq was a scant 41 days old. But all was not well. The anticipated caches of deadly weaponry we’d gone to disable were nowhere to be found, and the uneasiness over their absence was beginning to mount. In the U.S., Ambassador Joseph Wilson was beginning to ask questions. He’d been sent to Niger in 2002 to check out claims of Uranium sales to Hussein, and found nothing. His frustration at being ignored would lead to his New York Times whistle-blowing op-ed piece on July 6th questioning the integrity of our prewar intelligence.
At the same time in England, there was a less well known incident involving Dr. David Kelly, a British Weapons Expert. Dr. Kelly had been a U.N. Inspector in Iraq after the first Gulf War. In reviewing a British dossier prior to the war, he had doubted the claims being made about Hussein’s military capabilities. In May of 2003, he went to Iraq to inspect a possible mobile chemical/biological lab. He thought it was a truck for inflating balloons. He met with a reporter and suggested that the prewar dossier had been "sexed up." When the article came out, at first he didn’t feel that he was the source, because of what was written, but he turned himself in anyway as a contact for the reporter. Rather than keep his confidentiality, he was publicly "outed" as the source and later publicly questioned by Committees of the House of Commons. In that hearing, he was tense, almost inaudible, and obviously very troubled. Within days of his testimony, he wrote Judith Miller then of the New York Times [he’d been a source for her book, "Germs"]:
Shortly after writing the email, he went for a walk in the woods and did not return. The next day he was found dead from an overdose of pills with a cut wrist. An extensive investigation, the Hutton Inquiry, ruled his death a suicide, but widespread suspicions of foulplay remain.
Perhaps with Carne Ross’s revelations, Dr. Kelly’s final whistle will be heard…
Of course the deceit was worked “in tandem”. I remember deducing that the plan was likely hatched in Feb 02, when “Bliar” was at the Crawford ranch. M. look at the timeline.. It was a rather blatant conspiracy, committed by baffoons, bolstered by a complicit-in-war-crimes-lap-dog-media, and gobbled up by a majority of the sheeple.
SEPT 3: TONY BLAIR PROMISES TO PUBLISH A DOSSIER OF EVIDENCE “in the next few weeks”.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/kelly/story/0,13747,1021802,00.html
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SEPT 5, 02 Draft of dossier is circulated. Alastair Campbell says it needs a “substantial rewrite … as per
TB’s discussion” .http://politics.guardian.co.uk/kelly/story/0,13747,1021802,00.html
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SEPT 8, 02 (JUST AFTER VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY LAUNCHED A PROPAGANDA OFFENSIVE
TO HYPE THE NUCLEAR THREAT FROM IRAQ,) JUDITH MILLER and Michael Gordon had reported on
page ONE of THE TIMES: “More than a decade after SADDAM HUSSEIN agreed to give up weapons of mass destruction, IRAQ HAS STEPPED UP ITS QUEST FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND HAS EMBARKED
ON A WORLDWIDE HUNT FOR materials TO MAKE an ATOMIC BOMB.” –according to unidentified government sources — by trying to purchase “specially designed aluminum tubes” believed to be for centrifuges to enrich uranium. The story referred to administration “hardliners” who argued that action should be taken because,
if they waited for proof that Hussein had a nuclear weapon, “THE FIRST SIGN OF A SMOKING GUN MAY BE A MUSHROOM CLOUD.” Source: Editor & Publisher Online William E. Jackson Jr., who was executive director
of President Carter’s General Advisory Committee on Arms Control. He writes about American foreign policy and hosts a TV political talk show in Charlotte, N.C. URL____ *******************************************
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SEPT 9, 02 Patrick Lamb, deputy head of the FO’s counter-proliferation unit, shows the draft of his chapter of
the dossier to DR DAVID KELLY. http://politics.guardian.co.uk/kelly/story/0,13747,1021802,00.html
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SEPT 9, 02 Nicolo Pollari, chief of Italy’s military intelligence service, Sismi, met secretly in Washington with (then) Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. Pollari’s insistent overtures to get the Niger yellowcake story to the WH had been rejected by the CIA in 2001 & 2002. Sismi had reported to the CIA on October 15, 2001, that Iraq had sought yellowcake in Niger, a report it also plied on British intelligence, creating an echo that the Niger forgeries themselves purported to amplify before they were exposed as a hoax. This secret meeting came at a critical moment in the WH campaign to convince Congress and the American public that war in Iraq was necessary to prevent Saddam Hussein from developing nuclear weapons. National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones confirmed the meeting to the Prospect on Tuesday. (10-25-05) La Repubblica also quotes a Bush administration official saying, “I can confirm that on September 9, 2002, General Nicolo Pollari met Stephen Hadley.” http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=10506
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SEPT 10-11: THE 45 MINUTE CLAIM makes its first appearance IN A NEW DRAFT OF THE DOSSIER.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/kelly/story/0,13747,1021802,00.html
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SEPT 11, 02 (approx) The IISS report on Iraq, published less than two weeks before the Government’s contentious
dossier of 24 Sept. 2002, had forecast that Saddam Hussein would be prepared to use chemical weapons against an invader, and canvassed the likelihood that Iraq had large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons…
[…Meanwhile, it also emerged that THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STRATEGIC STUDIES HAS COMMISSIONED an INDEPENDENT AUTHORITY to REVIEW ITS ASSESSMENT OF IRAQ’S MILITARY
CAPABILITY BEFORE THE US and BRITISH WENT TO WAR.] http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=3544994 JAN 22, 04
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SEPT 12, 02 President Bush addresses UN to put the case for war against Iraq. “In his denunciation of Baghdad,
Mr Bush presented no new evidence to underpin allegations that it is developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. He focused instead on the long stream of UN resolutions in the past 11 years on disarmament and arms inspections that he accused Saddam of flouting./ But he also accused the Iraqi government of ignoring UN resolutions on the repression of minorities, the return of prisoners of war including a missing American airman, Scott Speicher, that some in the US administration believe is being held captive.
“Bush Sets the War Clock Ticking” Julian Borger in Washington and Ian Traynor in Moscow
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,791380,00.html
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SEPT 15, 02 NEW DRAFT OF THE DOSSIER IS CIRCULATED. http://politics.guardian.co.uk/kelly/story/0,13747,1021802,00.html
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SEPT 15, 02 BUSH PLANNED IRAQ ‘REGIME CHANGE’ BEFORE BECOMING PRESIDENT
http://www.sundayherald.com/print27735 Sunday Herald – By Neil Mackay
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SEPT 16, 2002 …Other U.S. commanders have admitted to “spikes of activity,†a phrase employed by both British and American officials WHEN DISCUSSING BOMBINGS BEFORE THE PUSH FOR CONGRESSIONAL or U.N. APPROVAL. “I directed it,†Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters at a SEPT 16, 2002 PENTAGON PRESS BRIEFING in response to questions about the RISING TIDE OF IRAQ AIRSTRIKES IN 2002. “I don’t like the idea of our planes being shot at. We’re there implementing U.N. resolutions. And the idea that our planes go out and get shot at with impunity bothers me.” /After repeated questioning about when the change
was made, Rumsfeld was hesitant, and according to the transcript, reporters laughed.//”Less than a year — less than a year and more than a week,” the transcript records, “(Laughter.) I think less than six months and more than a month.” “U.S. CHANGED IRAQ POLICY TO BEGIN AIRSTRIKES MONTHS BEFORE WAR” by John Byrne
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/U.S._changed_Iraq_policy_to_begin_airstrikes_months_before_0630.html
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SEPT 16, 2002 Iraq accepts ‘unconditional’ return of UN inspectors. Saddam Hussein last night caved in and agreed to the unconditional return of weapons inspectors to Iraq. “We are very clear in our demand – that is weapons inspectors must be allowed in with access to all areas at any time. Let us just see what the Iraqis are offering.”
Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, will study the letter with great care today when he flies into London after the UN general assembly in New York last week. He indicated over the weekend that a genuine offer from Iraq would reduce the arguments in favour of military action “to the point almost of invisibility”. But if Britain decides that the Iraqi offer meets its strict demands, that may lead to a difference of opinion with the US. Leading hawks, such as vice-president Dick Cheney, and the defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, are understood to have warned that President Saddam might try to divide the allies by making such a gesture; they are so determined to oust the Iraqi regime that they are likely to argue that America should still press ahead….All along it has been said that allowing the inspectors back could help reduce the chances of a US-led war against Iraq. But a western diplomat based in Baghdad cautioned before the announcement: “It may be two months too late for Saddam.” and that the
Iraqi leadership should have been offering conciliatory gestures much earlier, as the Bush administration’s position had now hardened. “Saddam Caves In On Inspectors” Matthew Engel in Washington, Ewen MacAskill
in Baghdad and Nicholas Watt http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,793642,00.html
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SEPT 17, 2002: Tony Blair’s chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, sends an email saying THE LATEST DOSSIER CONTAINS NO EVIDENCE OF “AN IMMINENT THREAT” http://politics.guardian.co.uk/kelly/story/0,13747,1021802,00.html
• Powell’s email http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Politics/documents/2003/08/19/powell_no_threat.pdf
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SEPT 18, 2002—Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told the House Armed Services Committee, “WE DO
KNOW THAT THE IRAQI REGIME HAS CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS. His regime has amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of chemical weapons—including VX, sarin, cyclosarin and mustard gas.†http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/jun2003/wmd-j21.shtml
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SEPT 19, 02 The Defense Intelligence Services discusses REDRAFT of the dossier AFTER INSIDERS EXPRESSED CONCERN OVER ITS CONTENTS. http://politics.guardian.co.uk/kelly/story/0,13747,1021802,00.html
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SEPT 2002 First public mention of Niger-Iraq uranium connection is made in British white paper.
“The Politics of Truth” by Joseph Wilson
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SEPT 24, 02 Government’s contentious dossier http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=3544994
THE DOSSIER IS PUBLISHED, INCLUDING THE STATEMENT THAT IRAQ CAN DEPLOY WMD within 45 MINUTES. Tony Blair describes the threat as “serious and current”. (later referred to as a “white paper”) http://politics.guardian.co.uk/kelly/story/0,13747,1021802,00.html
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SEPT 24, 02 The SENATE REPORT STATES that the British government on SEPT 24, 2002 published a White Paper stating that “there is intelligence that Iraq has sought the supply of significant quantities of uranium
from Africa.” THE above information IN BRITISH WHITE PAPER DID NOT STATE THAT THE ATTEMPT WAS RECENT. The SENATE REPORT THEN REVEALS THAT A CIA ANALYST IN Sept 2002 SUGGESTED TO A STAFF MEMBER OF THE WHITE HOUSE’S NSC that the White House REMOVE from a proposed speech the claim that Iraq attempted to acquire uranium from Africa. According to the CIA analyst the NSC staff member responded by stating that removing the claim would LEAVE THE BRITISH “FLAPPING IN THE WIND.” http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=MAN20050702&articleId=622
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SEPT 24, 02 Britain publishes dossier saying Iraq could produce a nuclear weapon within one or two years, if it obtains fissile material and other components from abroad. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/page/0,12438,793802,00.html
SEPT 02 ~In September 2002, U.S. News has learned, the DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY ISSUED A classified assessment of Iraq’s chemical weapons. It concluded: “THERE IS NO RELIABLE INFORMATION
ON WHETHER IRAQ IS PRODUCING AND STOCKPILING CHEMICAL WEAPONS.” At about the same time, RUMSFELD TOLD CONGRESS THAT SADDAM’S “REGIME HAS AMASSED LARGE, CLANDESTINE STOCKPILES OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS, INCLUDING VX, SARIN, CYCLOSARIN AND MUSTARD GAS.” Rumsfeld’s critics say that the secretary intended to assert things as fact even when intelligence was murky. “What we have here is advocacy, not intelligence work,” says PATRICK LANG, a former top DIA and CIA ANALYST ON IRAQ. “I don’t think [administration officials] were lying; I just think they did a poor job. It’s not the intelligence community. IT’S THESE GUYS IN THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE WHO WERE PLAYING THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.” Douglas FEITH, Rumsfeld’s top policy adviser, defended the intelligence analysis used in making the case for war and says it was inevitable that the “least developed” intelligence would be dropped [from Powell’s speech]. “With intelligence, you get a snippet of information here, a glimpse of something there,” he said. “It is inherently sketchy in most cases.” http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/unmovic/2003/0609conseq.htm
[…] Thanks to reader Dawn, a Dr. Kelly afficionado, who responded to my post about Carne Ross and Dr. David Kelly as follows: "Of course the deceit was worked “in tandem”. I remember deducing that the plan was likely hatched in Feb 02, when “Bliar” was at the Crawford ranch. M. look at the timeline.. It was a rather blatant conspiracy, committed by baffoons, bolstered by a complicit · in · war · crimes · lap · dog · media, and gobbled up by a majority of the sheeple." […]
[…] the other whistle… […]