"Downing Street was facing an embarrassing
rift last night after its claims of a "marriage" of
evil between Saddam Hussein and al-Qa'ida
were contradicted by senior military officers"
==================================
"The bigger the lie, the more often it's told,
the more people believe it"
Josef Goebbels
NAZI Propaganda Minister
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Irene MacInnes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, March 29, 2002 1:08 AM
Subject: CANESI: Top officers deny Downing Street claims over Iraq -
Independent
From: "Irene MacInnes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, March 29, 2002 1:08 AM
Subject: CANESI: Top officers deny Downing Street claims over Iraq -
Independent
The Independent 26 March 2002
Top officers deny Downing Street claims
over Iraq
By Kim Sengupta and Nigel Morris
Downing Street was facing an embarrassing
rift last night after its claims of a "marriage" of
evil between Saddam Hussein and al-Qa'ida
were contradicted by senior military officers.
They disputed an assertion by Tony Blair's
spokesman that the Baghdad regime was
supplying Osama bin Laden's terrorists with
chemical and biological weapons.
Amid deep misgivings among senior military
officers at the prospect a new Gulf war, the
Government stepped up its rhetoric against
President Saddam. However, Number 10's
claims of a close relationship between the two
contradicts its own previous position that there
was no evidence of a link between al-Qa'ida
and Baghdad. It will further anger Labour
backbenchers who fear Tony Blair is preparing
the ground to join a US-led attack on Iraq.
The Downing Street statement came a day after
Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Defence,
caused widespread consternation by insisting the
US and Britain would not need a United Nations
mandate to launch military strikes on Iraq.
Mr Blair's spokesman maintained that Baghdad
was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and
this may be passed on to terrorists. "Given what we
know about al-Qa'ida's interest in the material, we
have to have concerns about a possible marriage
between those who wish to acquire it and those who
have it," he said.
But this was immediately contradicted by senior
military officials who said they have seen no credible
evidence that the Iraqi regime is passing such weapons
to al-Qa'ida.
Underlying concern about military action in the Gulf,
senior officers also pointed out that they have been
given no guidance about what would be needed from
them in the event of war. They warned of the acute
problem of the military being overstretched with British
forces deployed in a number of conflict zones, including
Afghanistan.
A senior source said: "We are not aware of evidence,
intelligence or otherwise, that the Iraqi government or
its agencies are passing on weapons of mass
destruction to al-Qa'ida. Nor have we seen any credible
evidence linking the Iraqi government to the September
11 attacks."
This was the second time over a few days that a
Downing Street claim about terrorists and chemical
and biological weapons has been denied by the military.
On Friday, Downing Street officials briefed a number
of news organisations that US forces had uncovered a
biological weapons laboratory in eastern Afghanistan.
But the claim was contradicted by the Pentagon, which
said: "We have received no specific intelligence on that
kind of development or capability".
Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, insisted yesterday
that the lesson of 11 September was that Britain had to
"stand up to bullies like Saddam."
Mr Blair is due to visit President George Bush in Texas
next week in what is seen by many as preparation for a
Gulf war in the autumn.
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