[Peace-discuss] Blair cleared of "sexing up" Iraq dossier

[Neil]

I was on the Democratic Underground and caught this from the NY Times.  Saying 
that they were ready to launch weapons in 45 minutes sounds like a very very 
very vast over-emphasis of Iraq's capabilities.  But Blair gets off.  Ugh.

LONDON (AP) -- Prime Minister Tony Blair's government did not deliberately 
``sex up'' a dossier on Iraqi weapons by including a disputed claim about 
chemical and biological weapons, a parliamentary committee reported Thursday.

But the Intelligence and Security Committee criticized the government's 
presentation of the claim that Iraq was prepared to launch chemical and 
biological weapons on 45 minutes' notice.

The committee, drawn from both houses of Parliament, also was critical of 
Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon and said his ministry had been ``unhelpful and 
potentially misleading'' by initially failing to disclose that some of its 
staff expressed concerns about the dossier.

``We are disturbed that after the first evidence session (before the 
committee), which did not cover all the concerns released by the intelligence 
staff, the defense secretary decided against giving instructions for a letter 
to be written to us outlining the concerns,'' the report said.

Peace-Love-Solidarity
Neil

______________________
Conventional wisdom would have one believe that it is insane to resist this, the mightiest of empires.  But what history really shows us is that today's empires are tomorrow's ashes, that nothing lasts forever.  And to not resist is to acquiesce in your own oppression.  The greatest form of sanity that anyone can exercise is to resist that force that is trying to repress, oppress, and fight down the human spirit.
~Mumia Abu Jamal

Big Brother isn't watching.  He's singing and dancing.  He's pulling rabbits out of a hat.  Big Brother's busy holding your attention every moment you're awake.  He's making sure you're always distracted.
~Chuck Palahniuk

Neil Parthun || parthun at uiuc.edu || cell: 217.953.1132 || IM: ImpeachDubyaNow
~Junior, History
~President, Spirit of Seattle
~Co-President, Student Peace Action