War lord to break silence
From The Times
August 17, 2004
LONDON: Lord Robin Butler, author of the critical report on Britain's pre-Iraq war intelligence, is preparing to break his recent silence, dashing Tony Blair's hopes that the controversy that has divided Labour will begin to subside.
Lord Butler, whose July report criticised Mr Blair for overplaying the evidence on which the war was based, will speak in a House of Lords debate on September 7, the day Britain's parliament returns after the summer recess.
Downing Street had been hoping that disputes over the validity of the war would start to receive less prominence than the efforts to rebuild Iraq.
With that in mind, Labour is to invite Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to address its party conference in Brighton next month. Any speech praising the West for freeing Iraq from Saddam Hussein would take the sting from the expected attacks on Mr Blair.
Whitehall suspects Lord Butler was unhappy at the "spin" put on his report, which suggested it would not be fiercely critical of the Government.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10468337%255E2703,00.html