According to the UK newspaper
The Independent, the intelligence officials who produced Tony Blair's Iraq weapons dossier - the justification for war - have admitted that some of the main claims made in it were untrue.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=627362 -- quoted after the break. Please, please let this hit Tony Blair where it hurts. (Am a Brit, and am personally voting Lib Dem, for the record.)
The Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), which produced the dossier under its chairman John Scarlett, was forced to carry out a review after the failure to find Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction after the occupation.
The committee admits that a whole array of allegations - from Iraq's supposed chemical, biological and nuclear capabilites to its ballistic missiles -- were either "wrong" or "unsubstantiated".
The JIC review, carried out in December 2004, was revealed by the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, which oversees the work of the intelligence agencies, in its annual report. The MPs said: "We are concerned at the amount of intelligence on Iraqi WMD that has now had to be withdrawn ..."
The Intelligence and Security Committee says the JIC reviewed the dossier after MI6 began to backtrack on its Iraq intelligence and the Iraq Survey Group - which had been sent in after the war - failed to find WMD.
In the September 2002 dossier, the JIC assessment was that " Iraq is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme ... " This, it now concludes, was "wrong in that Iraq was not pursuing a nuclear weapons programme ..."
On chemical weapons, the JIC maintained in September 2002, that "Iraq may retain some stocks of chemical agents ... Iraq could produce significant quantities of mustard gas within weeks, significant quantities of Sarin and VX gases within months, and in the case of VX may already have done so." It now says: "Although a capability to produce some agents probably existed, this judgement has not been substantiated."
On biological weapons, the JIC judged: " Iraq currently has available, either from pre-Gulf War, or more recent production, a number of biological agents ... Iraq could produce more of these biological agents within days." It now admits: "The ISG found that Iraq had dual-use facilities which could have allowed biological weapon production to resume, but not within the timeframes judged by the JIC, and found no evidence production had been activated."
On ballistics, the JIC had said in the dossier: "Iraq retains up to 20 al-Hussein ballistic missiles". It now says "This has not been substantiated." However, a second claim made at the time that "Iraq has authorised its scientists to develop missiles in excess of the 150km [United Nations Security Council] limit" had been "partially substantiated".
The JIC also says it was wrong about Saddam's supposed intentions. In September 2002, it judged: "Saddam ... might use chemical or biological weapons ... against coalition forces, neighbouring states and his own people. Israel could be his first target." The review now says the "reporting which informed this judgement was subsequently withdrawn''.
The ISC also raises questions about who in the Government knew MI6 had withdrawn one of its most incendiary claims - that Saddam could hit British bases in Cyprus with weapons within 45 minutes - by last summer.
