Blair under fire over Iraq report

[DVTimes]

Tony Blair has come under fire after an official report found Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction.
The Iraq Survey Group found no evidence he had chemical, biological or nuclear weapons when Iraq was invaded.

The Liberal Democrats said the report showed the war was unnecessary. The Tories said it showed Mr Blair did not present an honest case for war.

But Mr Blair highlighted its finding that Saddam hoped to revive a WMD programme once sanctions were lifted.

Conservative leader Michael Howard said: "I don't think he [Mr Blair] told the truth about the intelligence he received."

But Mr Howard told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he still felt the war was justified although it had been "tragic in very many ways".

Shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram said Mr Blair should have "trusted the British people with the truth".

"Instead he misled the British people and in doing so he has lost the people's trust."

The Liberal Democrats added that the report justified the policy of deterrence and containment.

Foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell said: "It most certainly does not provide any support for the government's view that the threat from Saddam Hussein was so acute that only immediate military action would do.

"Brick by brick, the government's case for going to war is being demolished."

'Tragic mistake'

The UN's former chief weapons inspector Hans Blix told BBC2's Newsnight sanctions had successfully "contained" Saddam.

"They did destroy all the biological and chemical weapons and the nuclear weapons sector was also all cleared up.

"Had we had a few months more we would have been able to tell the CIA and others that there were no weapons of mass destruction."

But US President George Bush had been "desperate" to be able to say there were WMD, Dr Blix added.

Former foreign secretary Robin Cook said the report showed the war was a "tragic mistake"

"There were no stockpiles. There were also no programmes. The report is quite frank about that.

"There were no chemical precursors, there were no biological agents, there were no plants to make them, there were no delivery vehicles to fire them. There was no programme, no capability, no weapons.

"We could have found all that out if we had let Hans Blix finish the job which he wanted to do without fighting a war in which 10,000 people were killed."

'Complicated'

The prime minister reacted defiantly to the report's findings, saying the report showed Saddam "never had any intention of complying with UN resolutions".

He was "doing his best" to get round the UN's sanctions, Mr Blair added.

Speaking during a trip to Ethiopia Tony Blair said he welcomed the report because it showed "a far more complicated situation than many people thought".

He added: "And just as I have had to accept that the evidence now is that there were not stockpiles of actual weapons ready to be deployed, I hope others have the honesty to accept that the report also shows that sanctions weren't working."

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the report showed Saddam posed a bigger threat than previously imagined.

"The threat from Saddam Hussein in terms of his intentions" was "even starker than we have seen before", Mr Straw added.

"Had we walked away from Iraq and left Iraq to Saddam, Saddam would have indeed built up his capabilities, built up his strength and posed an even greater threat."

Foreign Office Minister Baroness Symons said the report showed Saddam had been "very close" to breaking sanctions.

"It was his overriding aim - that was what he was about."

The report made clear Saddam had maintained the "intellectual capabilities" and laboratories to develop WMD, Baroness Symons added.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3722290.stm