MI6 and CIA were told before invasion that Iraq had no active WMD

[malaise]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/18/panorama-iraq-fresh-wmd-claims
<snip>
Fresh evidence is revealed today about how MI6 and the CIA were told through secret channels by Saddam Hussein's foreign minister and his head of intelligence that Iraq had no active weapons of mass destruction.

A special BBC Panorama programme tonight will reveal how British and US intelligence agencies were informed by top sources months before the invasion that Iraq had no active WMD programme, and that the information was not passed to subsequent inquiries.

It describes how Naji Sabri, Saddam's foreign minister, told the CIA's station chief in Paris at the time, Bill Murray, through an intermediary that Iraq had "virtually nothing" in terms of WMD.

Sabri said in a statement that the Panorama story was "totally fabricated".

However, Panorama confirms that three months before the war an MI6 officer met Iraq's head of intelligence, Tahir Habbush al-Tikriti, who also said that Saddam had no active WMD. The meeting in the Jordanian capital, Amman, took place days before the British government published its now widely discredited Iraqi weapons dossier in September 2002.

When it was suggested to him that the body that probably felt most misled of all was the British public, Butler replied: "Yes, I think they're, they're, they got every reason think that."

---------------------------
One of these days there will be justice for David Kelly. I hope I live to see the war criminals into the Hague

[HiPointDem]

1. kr

[cantbeserious]

2. And Obama Has Said Time To Move On

eom

[green for victory]

3. Harry was never fooled by MI6

Why we loved Harry and Adam-reason #34

[IMG][/IMG]

[Berlum]

4. The Republicans lied us into a needless war, costing lives and billions of our tax money

How many of our sons and daughters in uniform -- and how many innocent Iraqi women, children, and men -- died or were mutilated by these Republican lies?

How many billions of our US tax dollars went to enrich War Corporations (R), and feed this evil, phony-ass republican oil-profits war?

[malaise]

9. And now Dumbya is painting puppies

they should all be in the Hague. Until that happens this planet will not be safe. There must be accountability.

[TexasProgresive]

5. My guess is that everyone knew there were no WMDs except

Congress (stupid is as stupid does) and the general public who were hot for a scape goat.

[elias7]

10. After Colin Powell spoke at the UN,

How could anyone conclude there was a serious threat? The presentation was so thin, my wife and I were looking at each other shaking our heads in disbelief. She and many others went to NYC to protest but to no avail.

Utter bullshit and false pretense. And, sadly, no accountability. But you can still get busted for pot...

[JoeBlowToo]

6. I heard Stephen Hadley on NPR yesterday still promoting the lies...

Stephen John Hadley (born February 13, 1947) was the 21st U.S. Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (commonly referred as National Security Advisor), serving under President George W. Bush.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hadley

He was still claiming that "all intelligence services believed there were WMDs, Republican and Democratic Congress people believed there were WMDs..." and "the Surge worked..."

What an incredible POS this guy is. But I suppose that once you put the lies out there, it's self preservation to keep propagating them.

[secondwind]

7. Kelly did not commit suicide.. he was murdered....

[malaise]

8. A Group of Doctors recently called for the resumption of the David Kelly inquest

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9861704/Doctors-call-for-Dr-David-Kelly-inquest-to-resume.html
<snip>
In a letter to Judge Peter Thornton QC, they said there had been ''deficiencies in legal processes'' which meant Dr Kelly's inquest had never been formally closed, no final death certificate had been issued and no cause of death had been confirmed by a coroner.

They also said that the first police officer at the scene of Dr Kelly's death had changed his account of how his body was positioned, bolstering claims that it had been moved.

Dr Kelly's body was found near his Oxfordshire home in 2003 shortly after he was identified as the source of a BBC report about the Government's dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

The doctors, led by radiologist Stephen Frost, have long campaigned for a full inquiry into how Dr Kelly died. They argue that the Hutton Inquiry, which effectively superseded the work of the Oxfordshire Coroner Nicholas Gardiner, was inadequate.

[wiggs]

11. Not a secret, IIRC. Saddam said they didn't have them. A 25,000 page Iraqi report said they

destroyed whatever they had after 1992. I remember they had to crush a bunch of outdated rocket bodies to prove they didn't have delivery capability too.

Germany told us Curveball was not reliable. The Nigerian yellowcake letter was clearly and easily determined to be a fake and Joe Wilson determined the content was not accurate. In public. The administration was told the aluminum tubes were not centrifuge components. Weapons inspectors were all but convinced there were no WMDs but wanted more time to confirm it.

This did NOT come down to some secret information that didn't make it's way up the ladder to the decision makers. EVERY INDICATOR POINTED AWAY FROM IRAQI WMDS. If the show summarizes ALL of the evidence against WMDs and that this new information is just one of many indicators, then I'll think there's balance. But often when our governments admit something, it's only to cover up something worse.

[UTUSN]

12. R35 & K n/t