(British) Intelligence staff 'pressured to lie over Iraq attack' (in 1998)

[Barrett808]

British Intelligence staff 'pressured to lie over Iraq attack'
By Andrew Sparrow, Political Correspondent
(Filed: 12/07/2004)

A former senior defence official produced fresh allegations yesterday about Government attempts to twist intelligence on Iraq for political purposes.

John Morrison said intelligence officials came under pressure to declare the Operation Desert Fox bombing campaign against Iraq a success in December 1998.

...

The three-day bombing campaign in 1998 was supposed to damage Saddam Hussein's military infrastructure and, after it was over, defence intelligence officials were asked to support a statement saying it had been a success.

But, according to Mr Morrison, the Defence Intelligence Staff concluded that the strike "hadn't done much harm at all".

Mr Morrison told the programme: "We were being pressured to say that something had been effective when, in the long run, we decided it hadn't been particularly effective. That had never happened in my career before.

"I actually sent a note round to all the analysts involved congratulating them on standing firm in the face, in some cases, of individual pressure to say things that they knew weren't true."

(more)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/07/12/nirq12.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/07/12/ixworld.html