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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Karen Lawrence who wrote (21594)	7/7/2003 10:40:01 AM
From: jlallen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Sorry. You are deluded. All the latest polls indicate the contrary.... JLA

To: Karen Lawrence who wrote (21594)	7/7/2003 10:44:59 AM
From: jlallen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

UK Parliament Clears Govt of Misleading on Iraq Reuters Monday, July 7, 2003; 5:34 AM By Katherine Baldwin LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his government did not mislead parliament or doctor evidence to justify the war on Iraq, a parliamentary committee concluded Monday. The Foreign Affairs Committee, which has been probing charges officials exaggerated intelligence on Iraq's weapons to strengthen the case for war, cleared Blair, a top aide and ministers of the allegations, made on the BBC. But the committee did slap the government's wrists for giving undue prominence to questionable intelligence in a September dossier on Iraq's weapons and for plagiarizing a student thesis for a second dossier published in February. The report -- which was rejected by the committee's minority opposition members -- marks the latest chapter in a bitter dispute between the government and the country's public broadcaster over Iraq's weapons. The British Broadcasting Corporation, citing an anonymous intelligence source, has accused a senior Blair aide of "sexing up" a dossier on Iraq's weapons. The BBC's source said Alastair Campbell, Blair's communications head, inserted a claim into the dossier that Iraq's weapons could be deployed within just 45 minutes. The weapons row, exacerbated by the failure to unearth Iraq's deadly armament, has damaged Blair's credibility and dented his popularity. With the committee's report, the government is expected to step up its attack on the BBC, which stands by its account. "We conclude that Alastair Campbell did not play any role in the inclusion of the 45 minutes claim in the September dossier," the committee report said. "We conclude that ministers did not mislead parliament." But the committee criticized the government for the February dossier that lifted parts of a student thesis. Lawmakers also said the 45-minute claim "did not warrant the prominence given to it" in the September report. Blair himself will appear before a separate parliamentary committee on Tuesday when he is expected to be grilled about the Iraq dossiers.

To: Karen Lawrence who wrote (21594)	7/7/2003 1:00:40 PM
From: Skywatcher	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 89467

Seems like all the rats are jumping ship..... First experienced State Department people....then Gardner in Iraq was the biggest....now this...... RIDDLE AS US SPY CHIEF QUITS Sunday Express [UK] July 6, 2003 Exclusive AMERICA'S top spy catcher, Paul Redmond, has suddenly resigned in the middle of his secret investigation into how Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden allegedly obtained US computer software, the SUNDAY EXPRESS claimed this weekend. The software is said to enable the two most wanted men in the world to avoid capture because it can pinpoint every move in the global manhunt. Redmond's departure last week w as accepted "without discussion" by President Bush, the man who had brought the spy catcher out of retirement to conduct the investigation. Hours after Redmond had cleared his desk, Bush ordered a GBP 25million bounty on Saddam's head. He wants Saddam "dead or alive" and the same goes for bin Laden. Already Bush has agreed to either man forgoing a trial and being shot after interrogation. The official reason given for Redmond's abrupt departure was "health reasons." But stunned colleagues in the Homeland Security department in Washington, where Redmond had his office, insist the former Associate Director of the CIA was in perfect health. His departure has led to intense speculation that he may have begun to uncover embarrassing details of how the software came into the hands of Saddam and bin Laden. Documents obtained by the respected International Currency Review, a London-based newsletter for the financial community, allege that the software was provided for Saddam on the authority of President Bush's father when he was in the White House - a time when relations between Iraq and Washington were close during Baghdad's war with Iran. The Review's publisher, Christopher Story, a former financial adviser to Lady Thatcher, said: "The documents are extremely sensitive and raise some very serious questions." He confirmed that they had originally been in the possession of Barzan alTakriti, Saddam's half-brother, when he was managing Saddam's estimated GBP 40billion fortune. A Paris intelligence source said the documents were copied by operatives of DGSE, the French intelligence service, earlier this year when al-Takriti made a visit to several banks in Geneva. He is now in American hands, one of the key names on the famous "deck of cards" list. Shortly after the documents reached Washington on the eve of the war with Iraq, President Bush brought Paul Redmond out of retirement. Redmond was a legendary CIA spy catcher who helped unmask some of the most infamous spies before he retired in 1998. He was told to investigate how Robert Hanssen, the renegade FBI computer specialist who was a longtime Soviet agent, had handed over a copy of the software - known as Promis - to his KGB controllers for $ 2million. Hanssen, now serving a life sentence, has yet to reveal all he knows about how the KGB sold on a copy of the software to Osama bin Laden for $ 4million shortly before the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. "But until Redmond's abrupt resignation, increasingly the documents relating to Saddam's use of Promis - and his relationship with President Bush's father - were what Redmond had begun to focus on", said a source close to the departed spy catcher. Originally developed by a small company in Washington called Inslaw, there are now a number of versions of the software. One was installed by MI6 early in the 1990s. After Hanssen's arrest it was removed. William Hamilton, president of Inslaw, said that top Bush aides and FBI director Robert Mueller had met to discuss the "implications" of Redmond's investigation. "Redmond has said that Hanssen did hundreds of billions of dollars worth of damage. I have been told that Redmond's health is fine and there is a much more important reason for his resignation", said Mr Hamilton. Like Mr Story, Mr Hamilton did not want to elaborate. But both men conceded that Redmond's investigation could have caused embarrassment to President Bush and his family.