Iraq WMD inspector accuses Govt of cover up

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http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2006/s1730266.htm

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Broadcast: 31/08/2006

Reporter: Greg Jennett

The Federal Government has denied accusations from a Government appointed inspector that it covered up concerns about the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.


Transcript

TONY JONES: The second Australian scientist who worked on the fruitless hunt for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction has broken his silence. John Gee has followed Rod Barton in claiming he gave the Government early warning in 2004 that no weapons would be found. But Dr Gee says his expert views were not welcome in Canberra and he's accused the Government of trying to smother his assessment after he arrived home from Baghdad. From Canberra, Greg Jennett reports.

GREG JENNETT: John Gee hunted weapons for a career. An expert on chemical weapons, he'd been sent to Baghdad to work with the Iraq Survey Group in search of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Dr Gee soon concluded he was looking for something that didn't exist, but could not shake the conviction of his American colleagues that they were out there somewhere.

DR JOHN GEE, FORMER WEAPONS INSPECTOR: There seemed to be a preconceived notion that there was something there. That there were weapons of mass destruction still in Iraq. That, it seemed to me, blinded those involved in the hunt to the realities on the ground.

GREG JENNETT: Annoyed and frustrated, he quit in March 2004. In his letter of resignation, he said: "I have no confidence in the integrity of the process here," and accused the CIA-led Survey Group of: "Trying to justify (pre-war) judgements, rather than an attempt to establish the facts."

The letter amounted to an assault on the reason for going to war and it reached the Foreign Affairs Department in Canberra. Dr Gee flew home to be told it hadn't gone any further; that the letter was not sent to Defence, the department which paid him to go to Baghdad.

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1. and theTruth continuew to dripple out.