wink;o} wink;o} Ginning up WMD Intelligence

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Brit War Inquiry EXPLODES with Damning Testimony! Will the Chilcot group take this and remove the somewhat gentlemanly gloves of questioning so far and get tougher, will it also bring about a re-questioning of earlier participants, like Blair and company, who might have thought they were through with their spinning of facts! Will documents not intended for public view suddenly become very public to answer what isn’t known but said only behind closed doors!

Tony Blair ‘intentionally talked up WMD’, Iraq inquiry told

13/07/2010 Tony Blair “intentionally” exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, the Iraq inquiry heard yesterday.

Former diplomat Carne Ross said Britain and the US went to war in 2003 despite knowing that Iraq was not a “substantial threat”. Continued

Iraq war inquiry: Blair government ‘massaged’ Saddam Hussein WMD threat

12 July 2010 Former diplomat Carne Ross says exaggeration, accretion and editing of intelligence documents led to lies in threat assessment

Carne Ross said the government ‘intentionally and substantially’ exaggerated the threat from Saddam. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

Tony Blair’s government “intentionally and substantially” exaggerated assessments of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction culminating in highly misleading statements about the threat that amounted to lies, the inquiry into the war in Iraq was told today

Carne Ross, a British diplomat to the UN who was responsible for Iraq in the runup to the invasion, said intelligence was “massaged” into “more robust and terrifying” statements about Saddam’s supposed WMD.

In evidence to the Chilcot inquiry, which heard that the Foreign Office had objected to the release of documents that he wanted to disclose, Ross said: “This process of exaggeration was gradual and proceeded by accretion and editing from document to document, in a way that allowed those participating to convince themselves that they were not engaged in blatant dishonesty.”

He added: “But this process led to highly misleading statements about the UK assessment of the Iraqi threat that were, in their totality, lies.”

In an example of what he called a process of “deliberate public exaggeration”, Ross said the government in March 2002 sent the parliamentary Labour party a paper that included the claim that “if Iraq’s weapons programmes remained unchecked, Iraq could develop a crude nuclear device in about five years”. Continued

What was going on with the British Government at the time was being orchestrated by the bush administration and those in line with them, everyone had to be on the same page for potential questions, which were probably not expected as they knew the media weren’t pushing for actual truth they too were following the propaganda willingly, but one never knew!

Carne Ross explodes the Chilcot inquiry’s cosy consensus

12 July 2010 The former diplomat’s testimony flatly contradicts those who still claim that intelligence on WMD justified going to war in Iraq

Carne Ross is a man with too much to say to mince his words. Britain’s erstwhile first secretary at the UN saw a lot of how Britain got into the Iraq war, but his evidence to the Chilcot inquiry went much further, with some very harsh words for the inquiry itself.

The classic establishment inquiry, especially one with “lessons learned” as its highest aim, finds that mistakes have been made but that everyone did their best and no one lied. Previous Chilcot witnesses have played this game and, while it remains to be seen whether the inquiry will play along, they have rarely been challenged. Ross (not Sir Carne, you will note) is now saying pretty bluntly that people lied before the war and are still lying and that Chilcot is not equipped to deal with it. That’s what happens when you let a known whistleblower in. Continued

IRAQ WAR DOSSIER ‘FULL OF LIES’

Carne Ross accused the Blair government of presiding over a misleading document

July 13,2010

THE Iraq war dossier was filled with “lies” about dictator Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass ­destruction (WMD), the Chilcot inquiry heard yesterday.

Middle East expert Carne Ross accused the Blair government of presiding over a ­misleading document that had been re-edited.

The ex-diplomat, who helped shape Security Council policy on Iraq working for the UK at the UN, said the seriousness of WMDs was intentionally and substantially exaggerated.

He said the claim Saddam could launch WMDs in 45 minutes had no basis in intelligence.

He also paid tribute to weapons expert and whistleblower Dr David Kelly who apparently committed suicide. Mr Ross said: “His testimony would have been authoritative, rigorous and honest.” Continued

And with mention of Dr. David Kelly’s name and giving praise to we get this out of the inquiry yesterday:

Chilcot: Ask for an inquest into Dr Kelly’s death

The head of the Iraq Inquiry has invited an inquest into the death of Dr David Kelly

13th July 2010 The head of the Iraq war inquiry last night cleared the way for a full inquest into the death of weapons inspector Dr David Kelly.

Sir John Chilcot said the Government scientist’s apparent suicide in July 2003 was ‘not a matter’ for his five-man panel to investigate.

But he invited campaigners who believe Dr Kelly was murdered to formally request that Attorney General Dominic Grieve orders an inquest.

Sir John’s spokesman said: ‘The inquiry has no statutory powers, and the committee is not appropriately qualified to decide on medical matters.

‘The committee’s conclusion is, therefore, that the proper route would be an application to the Attorney General.’ Continued

And with these statements from Chilcot the pressure builds even greater and giving aid for those who have been calling for a new Inquiry into the claims of suicide that brought on Dr. Kelly’s suspicious death that those close to him aren’t buying into, especially with what he might have known!