Blair Faces Fight Over Intelligence on Iraq
While the Bush administration faces congressional hearings on the
use of prewar intelligence on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction,
across the Atlantic, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is fighting
for his political future as questions arise over the failure to
find any clear evidence of chemical or biological weapons in Iraq.
The recent controversy revolves around a dossier Blair released
in September 2002 detailing Iraq’s alleged efforts to continue
developing biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons. Blair cited
Iraq’s pursuit of such weapons as the primary justification
for the U.S. and British invasion of that country. The dossier was
approved by the Joint Intelligence Committee, which includes the
heads of the British intelligence agencies and provides assessments
to the prime minister.
Although some skeptics questioned the dossier’s claims from
the beginning, the current row began in early June when the British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) quoted “a senior British official”
saying that Blair’s office had revised the September dossier
“‘six to eight times.’” In particular, the unnamed
official criticized the prime minister’s office for including
information in the report—“Iraq’s Weapons of Mass
Destruction: The Assessment of the British Government”—claiming
that Saddam Hussein’s military planning would allow for some
of his chemical and biological weapons “to be ready within
45 minutes of an order to use them.” According to the BBC,
the official said the intelligence services had not included that
statement in the original draft because of doubts about its reliability.
The debate over the September dossier follows earlier disclosures
about another report released in February on Iraq’s attempts
to deceive inspectors. That dossier included 12-year-old information
copied from a thesis by a U.S. graduate student.
Blair has forcefully denied that his office tampered with the evidence
on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction programs or that there is any
serious breach between the intelligence community and the Cabinet.
In response to concerns over the use of intelligence by the Blair
government, the Intelligence and Security Committee and the Foreign
Affairs Select Committee are launching investigations. Opposition
leaders also called for an independent inquiry, expressing concern
that the two committees would not be objective. The Intelligence
and Security Committee, in particular, reports to the prime minister,
who decides whether to make the committee’s reports public.
The opposition, however, lost a June 4 vote to hold an independent
inquiry 301-203. Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith also asked
Blair to release the original dossier that the Joint Intelligence
Committee provided before it was publicly released in September;
Blair has so far refused to do so.
Blair has offered full cooperation with the investigation by the
Intelligence and Security Committee, promising to provide the committee
with all Joint Intelligence Committee reports and to publish the
parliamentary committee’s final report. Blair insists that
more time is necessary to uncover weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq but that they will be be found.
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