Armed with MI6s 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 Saddams 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, Saddams 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 Saddams 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, Saddams 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 MI6s 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.