Wednesday February 4, 09:45 PM
Blair admits he misunderstood "45-minute" claim in Iraq
dossier
AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAAA LIAR
Wednesday February 4, 09:45 PM
LONDON (AFP) - British Prime Minister
Tony Blair said he had misunderstood a
key part of an intelligence dossier on Iraq
which he used to persuade a sceptical
nation to back a war to oust Saddam
Hussein.
Blair told the House of Commons he had
been unaware that the controversial "45
minute" claim in the government's September 2002 Iraq dossier
referred only to tactical battlefield weapons, and not long-range
ballistic missiles.
In a debate interrupted by anti-war protesters, Blair said he had
not known what weapons were being referred to by the claim --
that Saddam could deploy some chemical and biological
weapons within 45 minutes -- when Britain voted narrowly to back
the war.
"I have already indicated exactly when this came to my attention.
It wasn't before the debate on March 18 last year," he said.
However, Blair, the staunchest international ally of US President
George W. Bush in the Iraq conflict, defended the claim's
inclusion in the dossier.
"If there were chemical or biological or nuclear battlefield
weapons, that most certainly would be a weapon of mass
destruction and the idea that their use would not threaten the
region's stability I find somewhat eccentric," he said.
Blair's disclosure comes a day after he ordered an independent
inquiry to probe the quality of the intelligence used to justify the
war.
No significant stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons have
been discovered in Iraq despite months of frantic searching since
the end of hostilities was announced on May 1 last year.
Blair was speaking during a parliamentary debate about the
Hutton judicial inquiry, which last week cleared his government of
wrongdoing in events leading to the suicide of weapons expert
David Kelly last July.
Instead, the probe by senior judge Brian Hutton blasted the BBC
for a report which claimed the government intentionally "sexed
up" the September dossier
LONDON (AFP) - British Prime Minister
Tony Blair said he had misunderstood a
key part of an intelligence dossier on Iraq
which he used to persuade a sceptical
nation to back a war to oust Saddam
Hussein.
Blair told the House of Commons he had
been unaware that the controversial "45
minute" claim in the government's September 2002 Iraq dossier
referred only to tactical battlefield weapons, and not long-range
ballistic missiles.
In a debate interrupted by anti-war protesters, Blair said he had
not known what weapons were being referred to by the claim --
that Saddam could deploy some chemical and biological
weapons within 45 minutes -- when Britain voted narrowly to back
the war.
"I have already indicated exactly when this came to my attention.
It wasn't before the debate on March 18 last year," he said.
However, Blair, the staunchest international ally of US President
George W. Bush in the Iraq conflict, defended the claim's
inclusion in the dossier.
"If there were chemical or biological or nuclear battlefield
weapons, that most certainly would be a weapon of mass
destruction and the idea that their use would not threaten the
region's stability I find somewhat eccentric," he said.
Blair's disclosure comes a day after he ordered an independent
inquiry to probe the quality of the intelligence used to justify the
war.
No significant stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons have
been discovered in Iraq despite months of frantic searching since
the end of hostilities was announced on May 1 last year.
Blair was speaking during a parliamentary debate about the
Hutton judicial inquiry, which last week cleared his government of
wrongdoing in events leading to the suicide of weapons expert
David Kelly last July.
Instead, the probe by senior judge Brian Hutton blasted the BBC
for a report which claimed the government intentionally "sexed
up" the September dossier. |
