Butler Report Released - dossier went to the "outer limits"

[DoYouEverWonder]

LBN discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x684440



http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=540900


Intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction in the run?up to war was "seriously flawed" and "open to doubt" Lord Butler's inquiry declared today.

The ex?Cabinet Secretary's 200?page report said Prime Minister Tony Blair's September 2002 dossier should not have included its controversial claim that Saddam Hussein could deploy WMD within 45 minutes.

And it said Mr Blair's statement to the Commons on the dossier may have "reinforced the impression" that there was "fuller and firmer" intelligence behind the assessments in the dossier than was actually the case.
<snip>

The report also said the Government's controversial dossier went to the "outer limits" of the available intelligence.


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So does that mean the dossier was 'sexed up'?

[cal04]

1. 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.