Iraqi exile group says WMD intelligence it gave Britain could be false

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040127/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_britain_weapons&cid=1514&ncid=1480

LONDON (AFP) - An Iraqi exile group in London which claims to have supplied Britain with a key piece of intelligence on Iraqi weapons has admitted that the information might have been false.

The claim that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was able to deploy chemical or biological weapons within 45 minutes of the order being given was a headline-grabbing assertion in a British government dossier published in September 2002, in the run-up to the Iraq (news - web sites) war.


It was also at the heart of a row between the British government and the BBC over allegations that Downing Street "sexed up" intelligence on Iraq's weapons ahead of the war.


But Nick Theros the Washington representative of Iyad Allawi, who headed the Iraqi National Accord in exile and is now a member of the Iraqi governing council in Baghdad, said the 45-minute claim was raw information from a single source, part of a large amount of information passed on by the INA to British intelligence.

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[ewagner]

1. Surprised?

NOT!

...and just where do you think Rummy's Office of Special Operations was getting all their information?

Bits and pieces of this has been out since before the war but nobody has put it together in one, coherent piece. Maybe now somebody will and Bushco* will be exposed for what it is.

[DerekGD]

2. This is shocking news.

So they think there might have been something wrong with the theory. Perhaps they should have taken the time to examine the evidence. That is what most of the world did, and they didn't have access to intelligence reports. They were just getting the good stuff, the stuff that had been fully vetted. Their conclusion was there was no there, there.

[sistersofmercy]

7. Welcome to DU DerekGD!

Well they certainly sought selective "evidence" or at the very worst took the attitude of "we don't need no stinking evidence."
Welcome :hi:

[DerekGD]

10. We don't need no stinking proof

>Well they certainly sought selective "evidence" or at the very worst took the attitude of "we don't need no stinking evidence."


We don't need no stinking scientific method. We don't need no stinking due process. Why do you need evidence when destiny has tapped you on the shoulder and gifted you with a great moral crusade. Just pull the evidence out of your ass.

Thanks for the welcome.

[colorado_ufo]

15. Welcome to DU!

Great post!

[zbdent]

3. Bush - proving the French and Germans right each day

.

[annagull]

4. Poor Blair, he got Punk'd by Chalabi

Yeah, right.

[underpants]

13. I swell someone taking one for Bush

AGAIN!

Jeebus STOP LYING!

[Career Prole]

5. I gave it a 5!

Only 10 people had voted on it at Yahoo.

[sistersofmercy]

6. I am shocked, just shocked I tell you...

NOT! Well, I am sort of surprised at them fessing up.

[lumpy]

8. Amazing isn't it ?

For Pete's sake so many of us here on DU knew the WMD bullclaims were sexed up before they were even sexed up. Maybe that is because we pay attention to what is going on in the world and take the time to explore the events that affect our very lives.

[David__77]

9. "Flat Earth Society Says Claims On Earth's Flatness May Be Wrong"

Seems just a weentsy bit belated.

[rman]

11. what do you mean "could be"? - you don't know?

this exile group doesn't know whether their info was false or not? that's not much good is it.

[underpants]

12. Gee sorry about that but thanks for invading can we be in charge now?

Whoops. Turns out all that information that you relied on despite the fact that all the intel experts and anyone with a brain could have told you that that information was not reliable and should only be used as a starting point was FALSE!!! Just like everyone told you and you damned well knew anyway.

[JohnyCanuck]

14. You don't say

Theros said the information now seemed to be baseless, a "crock of shit". "Clearly we have not found WMD," he said, referring to Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Shrub and Poodle just had anywhere from 10,000 plus people killed and God knows how many maimed for life based on information that was a "crock of shit." Oh well, accidents happen I guess. No sense crying over spilt milk. Time to move on and invade Syria, 'cause we all know that's where Saddam's WMD really are. The Office of Special Plans assures us that they really, really are there this time.