[Peace-discuss] None so blind...

[C. G. Estabrook]

True. And the UK government has just suppressed records surrounding the related
death (suicide? murder?)of Dr. David Kelly. "On 5 December 2009 six doctors
began legal action to demand a formal inquest into the death, claiming there was
"insufficient evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt he killed himself."
However, in January Lord Hutton ordered that all files relating to his post
mortem remain secret for 70 years for reasons which he himself and the Ministry
of Justice have not explained."

Blair did get around ot the 45-minute claim:

	The Blair defence: September 11 changed the 'calculus of risk'
	In six-hour testimony, ex-PM admits he should have clarified
	reports of 45-minute claim but denies deception

     * Richard Norton-Taylor and Nicholas Watt
     * The Guardian, Friday 29 January 2010
[...]

The dossiers

Tony Blair admitted today that Downing Street should have corrected press
reports about the central claim in the No 10 arms dossier of September 2002 that
suggested Iraq could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes.

"It would have been better to have corrected it in light of the significance it
later took on," Blair said of the 45-minute claim, which prompted the Sun to
report that British forces in Cyprus could be attacked.

Under questioning from historian Sir Lawrence Freedman, Blair indicated that he
did not appreciate what turned out to be one of the most significant elements of
the dossier: that the 45-minute claim related to tactical battlefield munitions,
not to longer-range strategic weapons.

The dossier stated: "Intelligence indicates that the Iraqi military are able to
deploy chemical or biological weapons within 45 minutes of an order to do so."

Asked by Freedman whether he understood the distinction between battlefield and
strategic weapons, Blair said: "I didn't focus on it a lot at the time."

This distinction became highly significant on the eve of the war when Robin Cook
resigned from the cabinet on the grounds that the intelligence indicated Saddam
posed a tactical, not strategic, threat.

Blair's remarks came as he was asked at the inquiry about his decision to
publish details of Britain's intelligence assessment of Saddam's WMD programme.

Blair said the arms dossier only took on significance later when the BBC Today
programme reported in May 2003 that Downing Street had deliberately exaggerated
the intelligence knowing the claims to be wrong. At the time the dossier was
seen as "dull and cautious".

Blair said it would have been better just to have published assessments by the
Joint Intelligence Committee, rather than pull together a dossier. "They [the
JIC assessments] were absolutely strong enough on their own." He highlighted the
JIC data as he defended his claim in the dossier foreword that it was "beyond
doubt" that Saddam had a continuing chemical and biological weapons programme. A
JIC assessment on 9 March 2002 had said "it was clear" Iraq had a WMD programme.
Blair said: "It is hard to come to any other conclusion than that this person
has a continuing WMD programme."

Blair also defended his stance in the Commons statement which said Saddam's WMD
programme was "growing".

Asked by Sir Roderic Lyne how he had reached this conclusion, Blair said: "First
of all there were the September [2002] JIC assessments that talked of continuing
production of chemical weapons. Secondly, and this did have an impact on me at
the time though this particular piece of intelligence turned out to be wrong, on
12 September before we did the dossier I was specifically briefed about these
mobile production facilities for biological weapons. This was an additional and
new factor and was very much linked to how Saddam might try to conceal his
activities." NW

Anthony Pomonis wrote:
> No mention of the "45 Minute" claim which was used as a reason for Britain's
> original involvement...which MI8 got from a cabbie.
> 
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2010/jan/29/iraq-war-inquiry-tonyblair
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 9:25 PM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu 
> <mailto:galliher at illinois.edu>> wrote:
> 
> Blair Defends Iraq War, Citing 9/11 Eyes Similar Upcoming War With Iran by
> Jason Ditz, January 29, 2010
> 
> Under cover of darkness, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived at
> Britain’s Chilcot Inquiry on the Iraq War today, using a side entrance to
> avoid the mass of antiwar protesters out front. He then delivered what was
> expected by many to be the key testimony moment of the inquiry. Tony Blair
> 
> Incredibly, the former prime minister was totally unrepentant over the war,
> insisting that 9/11 had changed everything and speaking of the “threat” posed
> by Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction insisted “you could not take risks
> with this issue at all.”
> 
> So Blair took what was to him the non-risky route, helping the Bush 
> Administration start a war that killed upwards of a million Iraqis and which,
> nearly seven years later, still sees over 100,000 international troops
> occupying the nation.
> 
> He conceded that Saddam never had anything to do with the 9/11 attacks, but
> repeatedly turned to them as proof that “religious fanatics” couldn’t be
> allowed to have WMDs. It was unclear how Saddam’s largely secular state fit
> in to this model, but he insisted that the “absolutely key issue was the WMD
> issue.” Of course, after seven years, no WMDs were ever found and most
> officials have conceded they never will be.
> 
> But Blair, ever the supporter of devastating wars “just in case,” appeared
> quite contented with his decision, to the revulsion of the parents of slain
> soldiers, who sat quietly watching as the crowds outside called for the
> former prime minister to face war crimes charges.
> 
> Not content with starting just one major war on false pretense, Blair ended
> his talk by declaring that Iraq’s neighbor Iran posed a similar threat for
> its also illusory WMDs, and urged the leaders of today to not “take any
> risks” with Iran either.
> 
> http://news.antiwar.com/2010/01/29/blair-defends-iraq-war-citing-911/
> 

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