Secret papers warned Blair war on Iraq was illegal

[DuctapeFatwa]

Secret government documents show that Tony Blair was warned by his own advisers a year before going to war that there was no growing threat from Saddam Hussein and that invading Iraq would be illegal.

Confidential papers, including a secret memo from Jack Straw to the prime minister, say that Iraq had not "stepped up" its weapons programmes and that invading Iraq would be "legally very difficult".

They advised that the threat from Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programme should be emphasised to help make the legal case for war even though intelligence showed "the pace of Saddam Hussein's WMD programme" had not speeded up.

The secret papers, which the Independent Foreign Service has seen, show the government was warned a year before the invasion of Iraq that intelligence on WMD in Iraq was "poor".

http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=272&fArticleId=2262116

[KittyWampus]

1. Gee, At Least Blair Apologized...

asshole

[smirf]

2. "...he avoided the word sorry"

In The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/

The hardest word
Thursday October 14, 2004

"...Unable himself to admit direct sorrow for the Iraq war, the prime minister has acquired a group of ready apologists, willing to spread qualified regret across Britain on his behalf.

"...The prime minister may be sorry for the use he made of wrong intelligence but he has not said so. He has simply expressed regret that it proved to be wrong.

"...he avoided the word sorry and, with it, any sense of personal shame. The word was reportedly dropped at the last minute from his party conference speech."

more...

[UpInArms]

3. whether he uses the word "sorry" or not, he is still

one sorry piece of sh** and the entire world knows it.

:grr:

[George_S]

4. kick

[Darranar]

5. I don't think he needed the warning. n/t