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bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
=== News Update ===
Former British diplomat makes public secret evidence on Iraq
They knew ‘Iraq would collapse into chaos’ before the invasion
Carne Ross says Saddam’s Iraq never posed threat, we knew regime change
would cause chaos.
LONDON - Previously secret written evidence submitted to an inquiry on
British intelligence failures in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq was
made public on Thursday, with a former diplomat alleging that "at no
time" did the government assess that Iraq posed a threat to Britain.
According to the statement originally submitted by Carne Ross to Lord
Robin Butler's 2004 inquiry into the intelligence relating to Iraq's
weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Ross said that during his posting to
the United Nations, "at no time did HMG assess that Iraq's WMD (or any
other capability) posed a threat to the UK or its interests."
Ross was First Secretary in the British mission to the UN from December
1997 to June 2002. He said that the preparation of the infamous dossier
on Iraq's supposed WMD progremme began before he left.
The evidence was made public on House of Commons's Foreign Affairs
Committee website on Thursday.
In it, Ross, who resigned from the Foreign Office in 2004 in protest
over the war, states that "it was the commonly-held view among the
officials dealing with Iraq that any threat had been effectively
contained.
"I remember on several occasions the UK team stating this view in terms
during our discussions with the US (who agreed).
"At the same time, we would frequently argue, when the US raised the
subject, that 'regime change' was inadvisable, primarily on the grounds
that Iraq would collapse into chaos."
Neither Prime Minister Tony Blair's Downing Street office, nor the
Foreign Office, commented on the evidence.
Ross went on to say that with the exception of about a dozen Scud
missiles which were not accounted for, "there was no intelligence
evidence of significant holdings of CW (chemical weapons), BW
(biological weapons) or nuclear material" within Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
He continued: "There was moreover no intelligence or assessment during
my time in the job that Iraq had any intention to launch an attack
against its neighbours or the UK or US."
He added that, aside from Israel, none of Iraq's neighbours voiced
concern that they would be attacked by it.
The former diplomat said that "inertia" within the Foreign Office and
the "inattention of key ministers" contributed to Britain never making
"any coordinated and sustained attempt to address sanctions busting".
Ross had been threatened that he could be prosecuted under British
legislation that requires government employees to keep secret certain
official information, particularly matters of national security.
Despite the risk of breaking the law, Ross told the committee in
November that he would be "happy to share" the evidence he gave to the
Butler inquiry as it had been weighing on his conscience.
He has since founded Independent Diplomat, a non-profit diplomatic
advisory service.
source:
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/iraq/?id=18765
===
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