MI6 chief informed Blair case for Iraq war was "fixed"
3/20/2005 3:20:00 PM GMT
According to the BBC documentary show Panorama, Prime Minister Tony Blair was informed by the head of Britain's foreign intelligence agency that the case for war in Iraq was being "fixed" by Washington to suit U.S. policy.
The MI6 chief Richard Dearlove briefed Blair and a group of ministers on the United States' determination to launch the invasion nine months before hostilities began in March 2003
Britain's The Sunday Times reports that after attending a briefing in Washington, Dearlove said in the ministerial meeting that war was "inevitable".
"The facts and intelligence" were being "fixed round the policy" by U.S. President George W. Bushs administration, Dearlove stated.
The latest statements against Blair come weeks before an expected general election, with many predicting they're likely to reopen a feud between the government and the broadcaster following last year's fallout over claims by a BBC reporter that the British government "sexed up" the case for war.
The BBC documentary argues that Blair had signed up to follow Bush's plans for regime change in Iraq as early as April 2002.
Prior to the outbreak of the war, Robin Cook, the former foreign secretary who resigned as leader of the House of Commons over Iraq, claimed that the threat of weapons of mass destruction was not the prime minister's true reason for going to war.
"What was propelling the prime minister was a determination that he would be the closest ally to George Bush and they would prove to the United States administration that Britain was their closest ally," Cook tells the programme.
"His problem is that George Bush's motivation was regime change. It was not disarmament. Tony Blair knew perfectly well what he was doing.
"His problem was that he could not be honest about that with either the British people or Labour MPs, hence the stress on disarmament."
The documentary comes one day after thousands of protestors marched through London demanding that Blair pulls British troops out of Iraq and warning against any more "Bush wars".
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=7511
3/20/2005 3:20:00 PM GMT
According to the BBC documentary show Panorama, Prime Minister Tony Blair was informed by the head of Britain's foreign intelligence agency that the case for war in Iraq was being "fixed" by Washington to suit U.S. policy.
The MI6 chief Richard Dearlove briefed Blair and a group of ministers on the United States' determination to launch the invasion nine months before hostilities began in March 2003
Britain's The Sunday Times reports that after attending a briefing in Washington, Dearlove said in the ministerial meeting that war was "inevitable".
"The facts and intelligence" were being "fixed round the policy" by U.S. President George W. Bushs administration, Dearlove stated.
The latest statements against Blair come weeks before an expected general election, with many predicting they're likely to reopen a feud between the government and the broadcaster following last year's fallout over claims by a BBC reporter that the British government "sexed up" the case for war.
The BBC documentary argues that Blair had signed up to follow Bush's plans for regime change in Iraq as early as April 2002.
Prior to the outbreak of the war, Robin Cook, the former foreign secretary who resigned as leader of the House of Commons over Iraq, claimed that the threat of weapons of mass destruction was not the prime minister's true reason for going to war.
"What was propelling the prime minister was a determination that he would be the closest ally to George Bush and they would prove to the United States administration that Britain was their closest ally," Cook tells the programme.
"His problem is that George Bush's motivation was regime change. It was not disarmament. Tony Blair knew perfectly well what he was doing.
"His problem was that he could not be honest about that with either the British people or Labour MPs, hence the stress on disarmament."
The documentary comes one day after thousands of protestors marched through London demanding that Blair pulls British troops out of Iraq and warning against any more "Bush wars".
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=7511
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 1:46 PM
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