Yes indeed, the intel most certainly was "sexed up" to sell the war

Last month, an information tribunal in the U.K. ordered the Foreign Office to release an early draft of the dossier on Iraq's (non existent) weapons of mass destruction. That was the only way, the tribunal argued, to be assured that the intel used was solid, and to put to rest the charges that the intelligence had been 'sexed up' to help Tony Blair help George Bush sell the invasion of Iraq.

Today, the foreign office complied. And what do you know? The intel Blair touted was as cooked as a Christmas goose.

The 2002 document insisted Saddam Hussein's regime had acquired uranium and had equipment necessary for chemical weapons, but does not contain a claim that Iraq could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes — an allegation crucial to Blair's push to back the 2004 U.S.-led invasion that later was discredited.

Campaigners allege that the 45-minute claim was inserted into later drafts of the document on the orders of Blair's press advisers, who were seeking to strengthen the case for invasion — a claim the government has strongly denied.

Mondays document release prompted Liberal Democrat parliamentarian Edward Davey to state that he believed the Williams Document was evidence that government press officers played a decisive role in drafting intelligence reports in the pre-war period. "A press official should never have been drafting a document that ended up being used as the justification for going to war. There has to be a clear distinction between those that offer impartial intelligence advice and the government's spin machine," Davey said.

[Keep Reading]


A second document was published in February 2003, the month before the invasion. That second document was found to have repeated verbatim sections from an academic research study on Iraq's supposed WMD's and the concealment and destruction thereof.

Hans Blix, former UN chief weapons inspector, was quoted last year as saying he believed that Tony Blair had gone through the intelligence dossiers and replaced "question marks with exclamation marks" to sell the war.

The Brits have their own version of "sixteen words" and that is what all the fuss is about.

On September 24, 2002, Tony Blair presented a final draft of the first dossier, which contained the claim that Iraq not only had weapons but that they could be deployed in 45 minutes. This was a blatant lie, inserted by press officers, with the specific intent of whipping up support for the invasion of Iraq.

Lord Butler's 2004 official inquiry into intelligence on Iraq did not fault Blair's government, but criticized intelligence officials for relying in part on seriously flawed or unreliable sources.

Butler said the dossiers had pushed the government's case to the limits of available intelligence and left out vital caveats.

Government weapons scientist David Kelly killed himself in 2003 after he was exposed as the source of a British Broadcasting Corp. report that accused Blair's Downing Street office of "sexing up" intelligence to make a stronger case for war.

Writing in The Guardian newspaper, Williams acknowledged Monday that many within the government had failed to spot problems with Blair's case for joining the invasion of Iraq.

"Others were more perceptive, including one of the ministers I advised for a time, (ex-Foreign Secretary) Robin Cook," Williams wrote. Cook, who died in 2005, resigned from Blair's Cabinet in opposition to the war, claiming he could not support military action without international approval.

Now Blair is gone and Bush is going. They both blatantly lied, and they got their unjustified, illegal war that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis and led to the premature deaths of perhaps a million more. Every one of those souls cries out from the grave for justice, that the feckless men, masquerading as leaders, who told the lies and sold the war be held accountable.

There's more: "Yes indeed, the intel most certainly was "sexed up" to sell the war" >>

The truth will out in the end

An information tribunal in the U.K. has ordered the Foreign Office to publish an early draft of the dossier on Iraq's (nonexistent) weapons of mass destruction. In September 2002 the final draft was issued by prime minister Tony Blair and has been at the center of a scandal followign allegations that the dossier had been 'sexed up' in order to sell the invasion of Iraq.

Critics of the process used to put together the dossier point to allegations, originally made by the BBC, that government spin doctors added in a claim that then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had the ability to launch WMDs within 45 minutes.

This was seen as one of the crux issues in the debate over whether military action was used against Hussein and Iraq in 2003.

The Hutton report into the circumstances surrounding Dr Kelly's death criticised the actions of the BBC in producing a documentary in which he was named.

But many feel the full story behind the creation of the dossier is yet to be heard because secrecy still remains over the drafting process of the document.

In handing down its decision on the publication of what is known as 'the Williams draft', the information tribunal said there is "a strong public interest in disclosure".

"We do not accept that we should, in effect, treat the Hutton Report as the final word on the subject," the tribunal decision continues.

"Information has been placed before us, which was not before Lord Hutton, which may lead to questions as to whether the Williams' draft in fact played a greater part in influencing the drafting of the dossier than has previously been supposed."

The tribunal also suggested that the handwriting of two different individuals was found on the document, "suggesting that at least one person other than the author had reviewed and commented on it".

And I trust you all remember the late Dr. David Kelly? He was the weapons scientist who originally leveled the allegations that the charges made in the dossier released by Blair were embellished to sell the invasion and war. Shortly after he was named publicly in a BBC documentary, he was found dead, apparently by his own hand - but allegations that he was murdered still surface, and many people feel that even if it wasn't murder most foul, at the very least he was hounded to suicide.

One British MP went so far as to resign his seat in Parliament so he could devote his full and undivided attention to investigating the demise of Dr. Kelly. The rumors and speculations surrounding his death are sure to resume as the issue of the 'sexed up' dossier return to the fore.

The Foreign Office might appeal the ruling to the High Court in an effort to keep it under wraps - but the climate in Britain is not conducive to the secrecy, arrogance and hubris of the Blair era. I, for one, hope that this is the straw that breaks the camels back.

[H/T Cernig]

There's more: "The truth will out in the end" >>

The Brits are Abandoning the "Mission"

Both the BBC and CNN are reporting that Tony Blair has announced that approximately half of the British forces deployed to Iraq will be pulled out by the end of 2007, and the British forces will be completely withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2008.

Our major ally in the region is withdrawing from operations and pulling out their troops, even as United States forces escalate their presence and increase engagements with hostile forces.

The cause is, quite simply, lost. When the WMD's became histories first proven negative, the possibility of anything resembling "victory" evaporated.

It is patently absurd and the height of hubris to think that an outside party can win another countries civil war. As objectives were never clearly defined, they are, by (lack of) definition, unachievable. IT makes about as much sense for the dead-enders to insist on victory in Iraq as it would have made for the Italians to insist they would win this countries civil war in 1865.

The very notion is patently absurd, to the point it's just surreal.

There's more: "The Brits are Abandoning the "Mission"" >>