Intelligence officer's 'unease' at Straw's Iraq claims

[T_i_B]

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=434777

A senior intelligence officer who wanted to inform Parliament of his concerns about the Government's Iraq dossier was told by his superior at the Ministry of Defence not to take the matter further, Hutton inquiry documents show.

An explosive letter, revealed in full as Downing Street officials prepare to give evidence to Lord Hutton's inquiry this week, makes it clear that the officer, whose name has not been revealed, felt "very uneasy" about claims made to MPs by Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary. Mr Straw said that the intelligence community had no complaints about the dossier but the intelligence officer had formally registered his concerns last September.

The officer, who described himself as "the most senior and experienced intelligence community official working on WMD", said on 8 July he feared that he "might be judged culpable" if he didn't come forward to correct Mr Straw's remarks to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, and asked for advice on whether to do so. However, after David Kelly was found dead, Martin Howard, deputy chief of Defence Intelligence, wrote to the official to suggest that he should not take the matter any further.

The officer had formally complained on 19 September that he was unhappy with its use of intelligence. He wrote to the Defence Intelligence Staff technical department and Tony Cragg, the then deputy chief of Defence Intelligence. However, what was not revealed during the hearing was that the officer's letter had referred explicitly to Mr Straw's failure to tell MPs the full truth of such concerns.

[Capt_Nemo]

1. One more lie, this time by Jack Straw

Either Labour gets rid of these criminals, or they won't return to
power for decades.

[JNelson6563]

2. Oh boy!

This looks bad. Very bad.

That line in the article about David Kelly being found dead called to mind a headline about Kelly's death being the death knell for Blair. That lead me to remember that whole Mary Queen of Scots and her hubby Lord Darnley thing. After he was "found dead" it was curtains for Mary. Seems they don't care for this sort of thing in the British Isles.....here in America it's different, we can't seem to get enough of it (see BFEE).

Julie