Blair Cleared by Butler

[cal04]

The Prime Minister has been cleared of wrongdoing by Lord Butler's report into use of intelligence before the Iraq war.

But his eagerly-anticipated findings came down heavily on the "serious flaws" in the gathering and quality of intelligence. Clearing Tony Blair in his conclusions, Lord Butler said there had not been any deliberate distortion of information used as a basis of going to war.
But, he said, in attempting to justify the Iraq war the dossier had taken to the "outer limits" the intelligence available.

And it condemned the inclusion in the document of the highly-publicised claim that some Iraqi weapons could be deployed within 45 minutes.He likened some information gathered by intelligence agencies to a "Chinese whispers problem".Agents were having to work with a paucity of sources and, in some cases, outside their areas of expertise.

Lord Butler also said the Prime Minister's statement to the Commons on the day the dossier was published may have led the country into believing there was "fuller and firmer" information behind the reasons.

KEY FINDINGS

These are the key findings of the Butler report into the use of intelligence in the run up to the war in Iraq:

:: In March 2002 the intelligence available was "insufficiently robust" to prove Iraq was in breach of UN resolutions.

:: Some of the human intelligence about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was "seriously flawed" and "open to doubt".

:: The Joint Intelligence Committee should not have included the "45 minute" claim in the Iraq dossier without stating what exactly it referred to.

:: There was no evidence of "deliberate distortion" of the intelligence material or of "culpable negligence".

:: The language of the Government's dossier on Iraq's weapons may have given the impression there was "fuller and firmer" intelligence behind its judgements than was the case.

:: Tony Blair's statement to MPs on the day the dossier was published may have reinforced this impression.

:: The judgements in the dossier went to the "outer limits", although not beyond the intelligence available.

:: John Scarlet, the head of the JIC in the run up to the Iraq war, should not resign.

:: It would be a "rash person" who claimed that stocks of biological or chemical weapons would never be found in Iraq.

:: There was no evidence the British Government initiated military action in Iraq to secure continued access to oil supplies.

:: The report raised concern about the "informality and circumscribed character" of the Government's policy-making procedures towards Iraq.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1143155,00.html

In quotes: Blair and Iraq weapons
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3054991.stm

[soothsayer]

1. Blah blah blah----they're as worthless as our guys. What a whitewashing.

Everyone (with any sense) knew they were all lying from the beginning. I never heard * or the poodle agonizing over the intelligence community having presented that kid's term paper as an intelligence report, you know,way back when.

I guess they'll just get away with whatever they want, all the time. Bleah. Globalism bites.

[cal04]

5. When the government sets up the inquiry why should we

expect anything but a whitewash. This guys record doesn't look that great either.


The Foreign Secretary Jack Straw set up the inquiry on 4 February 2004 following widespread public concern about the reliability of pre-war intelligence which claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons have been found.

Lord Butler himself has been criticised. Why?

His critics say that as a former top civil servant he is too close to government and will not rock the boat. They point to his too ready acceptance in 1994 of former Tory MP Jonathan Aitken's word about his dealings with a Saudi businessman. In fact Mr Aitken had lied and was later sent to prison for perjury.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3878025.stm

Despite his pedigree, Butler was a surprise choice who many expected to side with the government, said Paul Kelly, a lecturer in politics at the London School of Economics.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Gee whiz it's not Tony's fault

he's so stupid.

Even if he holds on to his job has PM, I don't know how he lives with himself. Over 1000 troops and 10,000 Iraqis have been killed because Tony sexed up the dossier. But according to Butler, that's okay, because Tony really did believe his own bullshit.

[slipperduke]

3. It shoudl be quite simple

1, Blair lied and made us go to war with Bush, in which case he's a malovelent bastard

2, Blair got it wrong. He looked at the intel and decided there was a threat. In which case he's incompetent.

Either way, the only way out of this mess was to set up a pointless report put together by a loyal establishment figure with a long history of never upsetting the applecart.

Oh bugger......

[Briar]

4. Ah, Sky News

Fair and Balanced, just like Establishment crony Lord Butler. No one was responsible, it just - happened.

[Spazito]

6. I don't know but reading those points...

they, in no way, absolve Blair from "sexing" up the dossier:

:: The language of the Government's dossier on Iraq's weapons may have given the impression there was "fuller and firmer" intelligence behind its judgements than was the case.

:: Tony Blair's statement to MPs on the day the dossier was published may have reinforced this impression.

:: The judgements in the dossier went to the "outer limits", although not beyond the intelligence available.

Using the words "outer limits" says to me that Blair is culpable for misleading the British public.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. The full report puts side by side the internal JIC words

from August and 9 September 2002, and the published dossier from Sept 24th. eg

"The use of chemical and biological weapons
prior to any military attack would boost support
for US-led action and is unlikely." (9 Sept)

"It shows that he does not
regard them only as weapons of last resort." (24 Sept)

Michael Howard was poiting to these sudden changes in the reports in his reply to Blair in the Commons.

If this isn't sexing up, what is?

[zanana]

7. A question for British DU'ers

Will your press speak up about this? If not, this has become a global lie.

[Spazito]

9. Here is a great photo from the protests today re the Butler report...

Anti-war protesters in caricature masks of Tony Blair gather as Lord Butler's report is released on Wednesday in London.