Former MI6 chief says Britain was 'dragged' into Iraq war

[OneAngryDemocrat]

Source: The Telegraph

Britain was "dragged into a war in Iraq which was always against out better judgment" the former deputy head of MI6 has claimed, in a remark that will reignite the debate over political interference in the war.

The comments, made by Nigel Inkster, who was deputy director of MI6 at the time, make clear there were reservations over the war at a very senior level within the Secret Intelligence Service.

MI6 was blamed for the failure of intelligence that took Britain to war after helping produce a dossier in which Tony Blair claimed that Iraq was ready to use weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes.

The dossier, said to have been "sexed up" by Downing Street, also mentioned controversial intelligence that Saddam Hussain was seeking uranium from Niger.

In a speech at the Institute for Public Policy Research, Mr Inkster blamed weakness at the Foreign Office for allowing Britain to get dragged into a war over which officials had serious doubts.

"The Foreign Office no longer does foreign policy," Mr Inkster said. "It acts as a platform for a multiplicity of UK departments and the lack of a clearly articulated sense of our strategic location in the world explains how we got dragged into a war with Iraq which was always against our better judgment."


Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/5267555/Former-MI6-chief-says-Britain-was-dragged-into-Iraq-war.html

---

Can we prosecute, yet?

[Delphinus]

1. Send them to the Hauge -

we seem to be soft on criminals (other than those who do drugs).

[saigon68]

2. "sexed up" by Downing Street

[MADem]

3. What bullshit. What are they? Babies? Morons? They made the decision, they need to own it. nt

[grahamhgreen]

4. Dragged, lied, conned - the wars are about making money from war, death, destruction, and killing.

[jazzjunkysue]

5. The big men play their little games with the lives of real teenagers

The teenagers were dragged into war, literally. The fatso's who dreamed it all up stayed home.

[Captain Hilts]

6. Britain is a fully grown-up political entity and responsible for its own behavior.

Some of us on This Side of the Pond were counting on Tony stopping George, but he let himself get sucked in.

[Joe Chi Minh]

7. I think he's saying that. He's blaming Blair and the Foreign Office,

not the US.