Memos Suggest Blair's Government Exaggerated Intelligence About Saddam's A

[mom cat]

Memos Suggest Blair's Government Exaggerated Intelligence About Saddam's Alleged WMDs
The Associated Press
Published: Jun 18, 2005


http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBC21A44AE.html



LONDON (AP) - Prime Minister Tony Blair's government has been sharply criticized for publishing an intelligence dossier before the Iraq war claiming that Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and could deploy some within 45 minutes.
No WMD were found after the war, and the official Butler inquiry said the intelligence used was drawn in part from "seriously flawed" or "unreliable" sources. It also said the dossier, which helped Blair win the support of Parliament to join the U.S. in the conflict, had pushed the government's case to the limits of available intelligence and left out vital caveats.

Several of the eight leaked secret Downing Street documents from 2002 indicate concerns about weak intelligence and the difficulty of winning British public support for the war.

A March 8 memo from the overseas and defense secretary to the Cabinet office sketching out the options for dealing with Iraq says:

"Despite sanctions, Iraq continues to develop WMD, although our intelligence is poor. Saddam has used WMD in the past and could do so again if his regime were threatened, though there is no greater threat now than in recent years that Saddam will use WMD."

A July 21 briefing paper given to British officials preparing for a July 23 meeting with Blair says: "Time will be required to prepare public opinion in the UK that it is necessary to take military action against Saddam Hussein."

It says "an information campaign" will be needed that gives "full coverage to the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, including his WMD, and the legal justification for action."

No one thought that would be easy.

A March 22 memo from Foreign Office political director Peter Ricketts to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says: "But we are still left with a problem of bringing public opinion to accept the imminence of a threat from Iraq."

AP-ES-06-18-05 1321EDT



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[Jack Rabbit]

1. !!

The Palace of Peace
The Hague
Home of the International Criminal Court

Photo from the Instituut voor Internationaal Reecht (Belgium)

[ihelpu2see]

2. yes, some penetration into the MSM a picture and a story topped my

Yahoo news page this Sat. afternoon!!!! http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20050618/ap_on_re_eu/downing_street_memos_2

Finally,


now lets move to impeach Bush and throw Condi in Jail!!!

[deutsey]

3. Kelly was right...Blair "sexed up" the intelligence

[cal04]

6. Conyers should talk to Gilligan

The government did sex up the dossier, transforming possibilities and probabilities into certainties, removing vital caveats; the 45-minute claim was the 'classic example' of this; and many in the intelligence services, including the leading expert in WMD, were unhappy about it.

Thanks to what David Kelly told me and other BBC journalists, in very similar terms, we know now what we did not know before.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3446443.stm

[stickdog]

4. Will this get in Sunday papers across the nation?

I hope so.

[mom cat]

5. Keep the pressure on your newspaper and your representative!

[rodeodance]

7. 2002 Memos Undercut British WMD Claims

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20050618/D8AQ4C900.html

2002 Memos Undercut British WMD Claims


Jun 18, 12:04 PM (ET)


LONDON (AP) - Prime Minister Tony Blair's government has been sharply criticized for publishing an intelligence dossier before the Iraq war claiming that Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and could deploy some within 45 minutes.

No WMD were found after the war, and the official Butler inquiry said the intelligence used was drawn in part from "seriously flawed" or "unreliable" sources. It also said the dossier, which helped Blair win the support of Parliament to join the U.S. in the conflict, had pushed the government's case to the limits of available intelligence and left out vital caveats.

Several of the eight leaked secret Downing Street documents from 2002 indicate concerns about weak intelligence and the difficulty of winning British public support for the war.

A March 8 memo ...... says:

"Despite sanctions, Iraq continues to develop WMD, although our intelligence is poor. Saddam has used WMD in the past and could do so again if his regime were threatened, though there is no greater threat now than in recent years that Saddam will use WMD.".......

[UpInArms]

8. those lying claims of 45 minutes

were the insane manifestation for this:

"US scrambling to establish a link between Iraq and Al Qaida is so far frankly unconvincing. To get public and Parliamentary support for military operations, we have to be convincing that the threat is so serious/imminent that it is worth sending out troops to die for; it is qualitatively different from the threat posed by other proliferators who are closer to achieving nuclear capability (including Iran)."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MEMOS_EXCERPTS?SITE=MNMAN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-06-18-13-43-06

[daleo]

9. Dodgy dossier

The 'suicide' by the tree - all of it fits together.

[cal04]

10. We need Andrew Gilligan to come here and meet

with Conyers. He started the whole story in Britain. Maybe he can be of some help here.

[stillcool]

11. someone posted yesterday....

that Conyers was going there.....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=141x11147

[cal04]

12. thanks for the post. I hope he sees Gilligan and maybe even

Galloway or Short. Maybe they can tell him about the Hutton Inquiry that might have some information that we can use. I'm sure many here weren't paying that much attention to what was going on over there at the time of the inquiry

[stillcool]

15. Yes, and what about the guy....

that supposedly commited suicide? David Kelly was it? He's been popping into my head these last few days...the coiner of the "Sexed-up" documents?
edited to add:
ooops...my bad, that is the Hutton Inquiry!

[LyleNews]

13. Defense Policy Guidance 1992-1994

The Defense Policy Guidance 1992-1994 document is alleged to be the blueprint for the September 2000 Rebuilding America's Defenses. Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century (http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf).


http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/Wolfowitz92memo.htm
Earlier Draft Criticized

The earlier draft, dated Feb. 18, was roundly criticized in the White House and in foreign capitals after its contents were disclosed in The New York Times in March. Prepared under the supervision of the Pentagon's Under Secretary for policy, Paul Wolfowitz, the earlier draft implied that a competing power or alliance of nations, bolstered by surging economic strength in Germany or Japan, could arise from these nations and eventually express their rivalry with America through military competition.

<snip>

The new draft reflects an American foreign policy establishment far less threatened by ascending roles for important allies, even leadership by those allies when their interests are more directly affected. Yet a goal of the new draft is to seek to preserve a leading American role in strategic deterrence and regional alliances that will, by their demonstration of military cooperation, deter hostile and non-democratic powers from seeking to dominate important regions.

So, does anyone beleive that the First Buffoon and his Capo's didn't have the plan in place, but just needed to create an excuse?

[wildcat78]

14. Criminal Act?

I know that Congress has the power to impeach a president. But, can they try and convict a president for a criminal act? It seems that impeachment is too nice for this gang.

[1932]

16. Treating the public like it's a jury doesn't mean Blair lied.

And, yes, the sources were flawed. They partly relied on Chalabi and spies working for Iran who wanted Hussein out (probalbly for decent reasons).

Just because Labour felt they needed to make a good argument to the public doesn't mean they were misleading the public.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

17. "Suggest:?? "Exaggerated"?? Try subbing "Prove" and "Falsified"!

[FormerOstrich]

18. Where does the

plagiarized dossier fit in? Have I missed it or does that just never get discussed in light of the DSM information?

[Supersedeas]

19. the Corporate Media outlets sure were a help w/that Public Opinion prob