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Tue 23 Sep, 2003 07:34 pm
PM's aide ordered dossier change to boost war case, admits spy chief
By Paul Waugh and Kim Sengupta
24 September 2003 - The Independent UK
Intelligence that undermined the case for war against Saddam Hussein was dropped from the Iraq dossier at the last minute after the intervention of Tony Blair's chief of staff.
John Scarlett, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, admitted yesterday that he had made the crucial change on the "prompting" of Jonathan Powell, the Prime Minister's most senior aide.
The intelligence - that Iraq was more likely to use chemical and biological weapons defensively than offensively - was cut the day before the dossier was sent to the printer, the Hutton inquiry heard. Mr Scarlett said he removed the passage after an e-mail from Mr Powell had called it as "a problem" that could be seized on by anti-war critics.
Mr Powell's message, which was sent after the deadline for final comments from intelligence chiefs on the dossier, objected to the claim that the Iraqi dictator would use his weapons only if invaded.
"I think the statement on pg 19 that 'Saddam is prepared to use chemical and biological weapons if he believes his regime is under threat' is a bit of a problem," the e-mail read.
It pointed out that the claim would, in effect, back up an article by Donald Macintyre, The Independent's chief political commentator, that Saddam was "bad", but not "mad" enough to launch a WMD strike against the West. The e-mail went on: "It backs up the Don McIntyre [sic] argument that there is no CBW [chemical and biological weapons] threat and we will only create one if we attack him. I think you should redraft the para."
In the final version of the dossier, published five days later on 24 September, the passage was changed to read: "Saddam is willing to use chemical and biological weapons, including against his own Shia population."
Mr Powell's e-mail was sent at 3.45pm on 19 September last year, beyond a deadline set by Mr Scarlett for MI6, MI5, GCHQ and Defence Intelligence Staff to send their comments on the dossier. The following day, it was approved by Mr Scarlett and sent to the printers. It was published to coincide with a statement by Tony Blair to Parliament.
Under cross-examination by Andrew Caldecott QC, counsel for the BBC, Mr Scarlett admitted the change had been made only after Mr Powell had suggested it.
He insisted the change "was not as a result of the intervention from Downing Street", and said he simply went back to his intelligence assessment staff to check the dossier. Recent intelligence suggested Mr Powell was right and that wider issues such as Saddam's command and control capabilities and his intention to threaten his neighbours should be given more weight, Mr Scarlett said.
Blair hit for snubbing Bush and UN
Blair hit for snubbing UN
From correspondents in London
24Sep03
This report appears on news.com.au.
PRIME Minister Tony Blair, currently in Britain pushing forward his domestic agenda, has been criticised for snubbing the UN General Assembly where his key ally US President George W. Bush has been defending the war on Iraq, The Times newspaper reported today.
"It is quite extraordinary that this prime minister, who set himself up only two years ago as a major world statesman, is not prepared to face his colleagues at the UN," opposition Conservative Party spokesman on foreign affairs, Michael Ancram, was quoted as saying in the daily.
As Mr Bush delivered his keynote speech yesterday, Mr Blair, who took Britain to war against Iraq alongside the United States, visited a London hospital to focus attention on the government's commitment to domestic issues ahead of his ruling Labour Party's annual conference next week.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is the government's most senior representative in New York while world powers such as France, Germany and Russia are being represented by their leaders.
"All the principals are here," an unnamed UN Security Council diplomat was quoted as saying in The Times.
"I think it would have been useful for him (Blair) to be here... He should have been here," the diplomat said.
Fielding questions on his hospital visit, Mr Blair told reporters it was important that the Government concentrated on "things that matter to the people of the country" such as public services and fighting crime.
Across the Atlantic, Mr Bush's address to nearly 200 world leaders was sandwiched between scathing attacks on the Iraq war from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and French President Jacques Chirac.
Mr Blair is currently facing the biggest crisis of his six-year tenure over the suicide of David Kelly, the British scientist at the centre of a BBC report that London exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq.
A judicial inquiry into Mr Kelly's death is due to end Thursday with the judge's findings set to be published in November.
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