MI6 produced bogus Iraq war evidence under pressure from Downing Street

[ekrem]

Armed with MI6’s dossier, weapons inspectors for the United Nations — which still hoped to forestall war — now went back to Iraq to hunt once again for WMD. They inspected 300 sites and found nothing. ‘We went to a lot of chicken farms,’ one said,’ but there were just chickens’.
The response in London was that this proved only how devious and duplicitous Saddam was and how incompetent and naive the inspectors were. In any case, proof of WMDs was largely irrelevant now. Nothing was going to stop the momentum.

When hard intelligence of Saddam’s preparedness or otherwise for war suggested Iraq did not have usable weapons able to attack at all, let alone in 45 minutes, this was never revealed to the British public.
‘The books had been cooked, the bets placed,’ as an American intelligence officer put it. The conquest of Iraq began.
In no time, Saddam’s forces were caving in, and it seemed odd that with Coalition troops approaching Baghdad, he did not use any of his ‘special weapons’. When it was all over, the issue resurfaced.
Site after site was searched for evidence of WMDs. None was found.

When hard intelligence of Saddam’s preparedness or otherwise for war suggested Iraq did not have usable weapons able to attack at all, let alone in 45 minutes, this was never revealed to the British public.
‘The books had been cooked, the bets placed,’ as an American intelligence officer put it. The conquest of Iraq began.
In no time, Saddam’s forces were caving in, and it seemed odd that with Coalition troops approaching Baghdad, he did not use any of his ‘special weapons’. When it was all over, the issue resurfaced.
Site after site was searched for evidence of WMDs. None was found.

One by one MI6’s prized sources melted away like mirages in the desert heat. Three months after the fall of Baghdad, MI6 interviewed in person the cherished new source in whom so much had been invested and who had dispelled so many doubts.
He denied ever having said anything about accelerated production of biological and chemical weapons.
The military officer who had passed on the 45-minute claim also denied having ever said such a thing, and it became clear that he had made it all up. So too had ‘Curveball’.

Read more: MI6, under pressure from Blair and Campbell, produced bogus Iraq war evidence | Mail Online


That's it, just some articles here and there. Than you just page the newspaper, and everything's normal again.

 

[alexa]

Armed with MI6’s dossier, weapons inspectors for the United Nations — which still hoped to forestall war — now went back to Iraq to hunt once again for WMD. They inspected 300 sites and found nothing. ‘We went to a lot of chicken farms,’ one said,’ but there were just chickens’.
The response in London was that this proved only how devious and duplicitous Saddam was and how incompetent and naive the inspectors were. In any case, proof of WMDs was largely irrelevant now. Nothing was going to stop the momentum.

When hard intelligence of Saddam’s preparedness or otherwise for war suggested Iraq did not have usable weapons able to attack at all, let alone in 45 minutes, this was never revealed to the British public.
‘The books had been cooked, the bets placed,’ as an American intelligence officer put it. The conquest of Iraq began.
In no time, Saddam’s forces were caving in, and it seemed odd that with Coalition troops approaching Baghdad, he did not use any of his ‘special weapons’. When it was all over, the issue resurfaced.
Site after site was searched for evidence of WMDs. None was found.

When hard intelligence of Saddam’s preparedness or otherwise for war suggested Iraq did not have usable weapons able to attack at all, let alone in 45 minutes, this was never revealed to the British public.
‘The books had been cooked, the bets placed,’ as an American intelligence officer put it. The conquest of Iraq began.
In no time, Saddam’s forces were caving in, and it seemed odd that with Coalition troops approaching Baghdad, he did not use any of his ‘special weapons’. When it was all over, the issue resurfaced.
Site after site was searched for evidence of WMDs. None was found.

One by one MI6’s prized sources melted away like mirages in the desert heat. Three months after the fall of Baghdad, MI6 interviewed in person the cherished new source in whom so much had been invested and who had dispelled so many doubts.
He denied ever having said anything about accelerated production of biological and chemical weapons.
The military officer who had passed on the 45-minute claim also denied having ever said such a thing, and it became clear that he had made it all up. So too had ‘Curveball’.

Read more: MI6, under pressure from Blair and Campbell, produced bogus Iraq war evidence | Mail Online


That's it, just some articles here and there. Than you just page the newspaper, and everything's normal again.

This will be to do with our Iraq Inquiry I imagine.

It says much about the culture of MI6 that despite its distrust of Alastair Campbell, he was shown intelligence considered too sensitive to be revealed to those of us who had undergone the full vetting processes (An unguided missile, 15 July). That culture is revealed by the observation of one senior MI6 officer about other related intelligence that: "I think we marketed that intelligence ... before it was fully validated."

This is but one example of the distortions that competition has brought to parts of the machinery of government, where collaboration is essential to effectiveness. That an internal deception about the quality of evidence contributed in a major way to the deeply flawed case for war in Iraq damaged the intelligence community and public confidence in it. That it has taken seven years and four inquiries to confirm this much is further evidence of the moral vacuum that persists in the higher echelons of Whitehall, Westminster and beyond.

Letters: MI6 and Campbell | World news | The Guardian

MI6 regarded Alastair Campbell, the chief spokesman for Tony Blair, as "somewhat of an unguided missile" with a "propensity to have rushes of blood to the head", a senior intelligence officer has revealed in previously unpublished evidence to the Iraq war inquiry.

Documents from MI6 officers also reveal the turmoil within the secret intelligence service (SIS) as the then prime minister put pressure on to justify his claim that Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programme posed a serious threat. MI6 was "too eager" to please.

Campbell in particular has denied "sexing up" the Blair government's weapons dossier drawn up in September 2002, six months before the invasion of Iraq.

Papers released by the Chilcot inquiry into the war show that an MI6 officer, identified only as SIS2, had regular contacts with Campbell: "We found Alastair Campbell, I think, an enthusiastic individual, but also somewhat of an unguided missile." He added: "We also, I think, suffered from his propensity to have rushes of blood to the head and pass various stories and information to journalists without appropriate prior consultation."

An unguided missile: MI6's view of Alastair Campbell is revealed | UK news | The Guardian

The damning of Tony Blair: Former PM to be held to account on Iraq in Chilcot report on war

* Iraq war deal 'signed in blood' by former Prime Minister
* Cabinet members kept in the dark in build-up to the war
* 'Obvious failings' in post-war planning


Tony Blair is to face scathing criticism from the official inquiry into the Iraq War for the role he played in leading Britain into one of its biggest foreign policy fiascos in modern history.

The Mail on Sunday has been told that the former Prime Minister will be held to account on four main failings:

* Bogus claims that were made about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.
* Not telling the British public about his secret pledge with George Bush to go to war.
* Keeping the Cabinet in the dark by his ‘sofa government’ style.
* Failing to plan to avoid the post-war chaos in Iraq.


Read more: Iraq inquiry: Tony Blair to be held to account in Chilcot report on war | Mail Online

Find out about the inquiry here Iraq Inquiry

 

[Colin]

Nothing new here. We have known for years that Blair's dossier on Iraq was a sham coddled together by him and his spin doctor in chief. Part of it was even lifted from a graduate paper on the Internet!