(UK) Officials knew intelligence did not back war

[muriel_volestrangler]

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1087373624700&p=1012571727085

A March 2002 meeting of government officials in Downing Street decided that available intelligence was not strong enough to support the case for war in Iraq, Lord Butler's inquiry into weapons of mass destruction has found.
...
Lord Butler's report is expected to be more muted than the US Senate's, with its main focus expected to be the integrity of intelligence procedures and keeping intelligence free in future from political pressures, according to people aware of the inquiry's deliberations.

It is expected to avoid much discussion of personalities. It is not thought, for example, to refer to Alastair Campbell, the prime minister's former press spokesman, who played an important part in the emergence of the September dossier.

The Butler report is believed to mention the March 2002 policy meeting in which officials from various departments discussed Iraq, though it may not emphasise it or its implications, according to one person.

For some reason, the Financial Times seems to be getting all the leaks for the Butler report. It's not normally a paper to print things it can't be sure of.

The report looks as though it's going the same way as the US Senate report - says the intelligence was all unreliable, but won't criticise any politicians or their assistants.

[mhr]

1. Logical Flaw - If The Policy Makers Knew The Intelligence

did not support a finding for war, how can the intelligence agencies be faulted?

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. I see your point

The key may be the timing - in March 2002, the intelligence wasn't enough evidence for war; by September, and the 'rollout of the new product', there suddenly was. Somehow, with a straight face, the report may be saying that this evidence, which was false, just all turned up suddenly - or the world's intelligence services all went into mass hallucinations, at the same time. But they're still denying there was no political pressure to find it all.

In reality, some politician gave the push for the false intelligence - either Chalabi and the INC on their own, or Chalabi working for the Iranians, or Chalabi working for Rumsfeld and Perle. I can't work out which (all threee options seem very feasible to me), and I suspect we will never be able to.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Of course they knew

and we knew, they knew.

And we screamed and yelled, ranted and raved but of course we were just a bunch of conspiracy theorists.

It's high time for this cabal to start drafting their resignation letters. The game is over. Time to move on and try to repair the damage.