Shaming of our spooks: MI6 produced bogus Iraq war evidence under pressure from Downing Street

[kpete]

Source: The Daily Mail

Shaming of our spooks: MI6 produced bogus Iraq war evidence under pressure from Downing Street
By TONY RENNELL
Last updated at 11:53 PM on 12th August 2011

.................

Alarm bells rang in his head. It was September 2002, and Prime Minister Tony Blair had that day unveiled with great fanfare the government’s dossier detailing Saddam Hussein’s arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, as a justification for going to war.

He knew, in a way the public did not, the precise background to that headline. His first thought was that this was not what the original intelligence report had said. ‘If this goes wrong, we’re all screwed,’ he muttered to himself.


..................
‘We knew the purpose of the dossier was precisely to make a case for war,’ one senior military intelligence officer later complained. ‘Every fact was managed to make it as strong as possible.’

Direction and pressure were being applied on the JIC and its drafters, he maintained. A line had been crossed. Intelligence was being used as a tool for political persuasion.
But what intelligence was there to gather? Not a lot, in reality.

.............











Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2025512/MI6-pressure-Blair-Campbell-produced-bogus-Iraq-war-evidence.html

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. people were lied to and that is very serious

of course no action has been taken against Bliar

[Enthusiast]

15. The same fascists have

taken control of their nation like they have this one.

[No Elephants]

19. Well....

"{DLC founder, Al}From played a prominent role in the 1992 election of President Bill Clinton – and served as Domestic Policy Advisor to the Clinton Transition – prompting USA Today to write: "The ideas at the crux of the Clinton candidacy were largely drafted by the DLC." <9>

Today, many of the ideas that comprise the core of the Democratic Party's agenda come from work done under From's leadership at the DLC. National service, an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit, welfare reform, charter schools, community policing, expanded trade and re-inventing government were all championed by scholars and analysts at the DLC before becoming public policy.<10>

In 1998, with First Lady Hillary Clinton, From began a dialogue with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other world leaders, and the DLC brand – known as The Third Way – became a model for resurgent progressive governments around the globe.<11>"

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

[Bluenorthwest]

32. You would enjoy, in a way, the HBO film about Clinton/Blair

"The Special Relationship" Very good.
http://www.hbo.com/movies/the-special-relationship/synopsis.html#

[blm]

39. Many Dems still refuse to process the fact that Blair's top American advisor was Bill Clinton

who was always on the same page with Bush and Lieberman when it came to Iraq.

Blair and other allies' reluctance to support a US invasion of Iraq in 1998 is the real reason Clinton didn't invade then. Some Dems have spun that into a belief that Clinton never would have invaded Iraq. Despite his claims of skepticism during Hillary's primary run, there's little doubt Clinton would have used a 9-11 to react similar to Bush, but, no doubt, with greater competence. Still would have been wrong, though.

[daleo]

51. That's all conjecture. n/t

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

44. It's treason.

Pure and simple.

[Enthusiast]

45. No question.......nt

[indepat]

47. Unequivocally so imo

:thumbsup: :patriot:

[Gregorian]

2. I don't get it. Where's the news in this?

This looks like the same old sexy dossier, they lied, a million people died. But it's comprehensive.

And I fully recommend any post on this subject. I want justice.

[DCKit]

3. WE knew it, but the actual information and documents are finally coming out.

It's only "old" news to us, the rest of the U.K. and U.S. are without a clue.

[Gregorian]

4. We need a DU Scoreboard.

I think it's at around 99% correct right now.

[DCKit]

5. And anything new, and we're right back to being conspiracy nuts. nt

[Quantess]

8. True, but really, there is nothing more that needs to be added.

:hi:

[DCKit]

9. Just some fruit and granola, sugar. I mean AND sugar. nt

[Quantess]

56. LOL!

[grahamhgreen]

10. The conspiracy nuts were those who thought Iraq had WMD.

[No Elephants]

20. No nuts. Just gullible people who believed what 2 heads of state, including their own, told them.

[DCKit]

38. No, they needed that "information" fo sell a senseless, illegal war.

Different kind of conspiracy nut. They were conspiracy creators, and "some people" got it from day one.

[certainot]

everyone else has it figured out

[Just-plain-Kathy]

37. I want justice too. I just wish we could look to Obama, but he just pouts.

Obama is aware of the crimes of the past administrations, yet he does nothing. Obama pouts and openly blames our country's troubles on the mess he walked into when he first took office.

Obama sits back and pouts when our congress and senate doesn't work in our best interest. I'm so disappointed. I wish Obama could dictate for the good of our country, the way Bush and Cheney did for corporations.

Yes, I will vote for Obama again. I believe even a weak democrat is better than ANY republican.

[Angry Dragon]

6. george and tony marching off to war

let someone else do the dying
we just want the oil
lies, lies, so many lies
look under there for the weapons
torture will make us look good
it will seem that we really care
gotta protect the people
from all those evil terrorists
bringing democracy to the desert countries
as ours fade into fascism and despair

[begin_within]

12. Add 3 more lines

and you'll have a sonnet.

[Angry Dragon]

29. That is all that came to me on the spur of the moment

[No Elephants]

21. Thank you for that, Angry Dragon.

[boppers]

7. Lesson #1:

If you do not know how to read "intelligence", you should not lead a country.

Period,

[Enthusiast]

16. Reading intelligence is one thing,

making it up is something entirely different.

[boppers]

53. Well, getting bogus intelligence is part and parcel of the field.

Probably the three most crucial paragraphs in the piece:

"Basically, what the source had provided was what Corera describes as ‘just a lonely piece of intelligence floating in a sea of uncertainty, to which those who wanted to could cling’. It was more local colour than hard intelligence, but the spooks grabbed at it gratefully.
Then, out of the blue, another piece of intelligence dropped. MI6 had apparently bagged an important new agent, who claimed that Iraq’s production of biological and chemical weapons was being accelerated and new facilities built.
The source was untested but Dearlove and senior officers around him were bullish. This was crucial in hardening up judgments and overcoming doubts. The reports were passed straight to Downing Street, bypassing assessors who could judge its technical credibility."

People make shit up all the time, intelligence is not different.

[No Elephants]

22. How is this a failure to read intelligence issue?

No reason a candidate for head of state of the U.S. or the UK has to know how to read intelligence, any more than he or she has a need to know how to plan a successful state dinner.

Bush and Blair both had professionals whose job it was {and still is} to help the head of state read intelligence.

The problem was that the accurate readings that Bushco received was not to their liking, ss they kept telling people to come back with something more, better and different. Message received, but no one believed the trumped up stuff. Everything we suspected at the time has since been confirmed on both sides of the pond, including that Powell had so little faith in the story he told the UN that he insisted Tenet sit right behind him {television camera range} while he (Powell) presented that stuff to the UN.

The French and the Germans rightly sneered at the quality of the "evidence;" and we knew that, too. That was why some yahoos insisted we eat Freedom fries for a few years.

This was not a comprehension issue; it was an intentional deceit issue, directed from the highest levels of U.S. and U.K. government.

[hulka38]

55. So true.

[certainot]

11. and then 1000 coordinated radio stations with paid callers and call screeners got to work

that's a deluge that becomes reality

[Botany]

14. And then bring about righteous anger at anybody who ......

...... questions the company line about the need for a war in Iraq.




Later on "they can" try to rewrite history about why we invaded Iraq.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/remembering-9-11/6683/Overview


Least we forgot on "our side of the pond" bush and Cheney had the Office of Special Plans @ the Pentagon along
w/ WHIG (White House Iraq Group) cherry picking or making up intel to support a war in Iraq.


The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.
W bush 2003 State of the Union speech

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/transcripts/bushtext_012803.html

[Enthusiast]

17. It was perfectly apparent to millions

of us that Bush and Cheney were lying through their teeth.

During the time leading up to the Iraq invasion the Sunday Morning talks shows were comprised of one side arguing for war and one against. I knew damn well the threat was greatly exaggerated. If I could see it....

[No Elephants]

23. Yep. On 911, I happened to be in the home of a Lebanese immigrant who was then

then somewhere between 75 and 80.

I got a call in the morning from her son, telling me to turn on the TV. As a result, we watched the plane that flew into the second tower in real time.

I shrieked, then immediately "Bin Laden." She immediately responded, "Mmm, but they will hang it on Saddam."

Not more than 20 seconds from her son's phone call to the end of that exchange, at the cost of blood or treasure.

[Enthusiast]

24. Incredible.

That's an amazing story.

[No Elephants]

26. Breaks my heart, really. And she had been living in the U.S. for at least fifteen years,

so it is not as though she had access to any inside info, either.

Every Arab I ever met knew Bin Laden and Saddam had nothing but hatred and contempt for each other and would not collaborate on anything.

[Botany]

27. Who can forget Colin Powell w/ the "anthrax" in front of ...

.... the UN making the case for war even though the bush administration had known that the anthrax sent to the capital and some reporters had
come from Ft. Detrick, MD?

[Yon_Yonson]

30. My Lai Massacre cover up man himself

:puke:

[certainot]

35. when dems wanted longer debate before granting bush war powers all radio talkers chanted same thing

we don't need to debate this! tell your reps to stand up and be counted!

and radio is great for pointing thousands crazed callers to punish media for putting 'traitor' on, and that mechanism is still going strong.

[RandomKoolzip]

13. War crimes. Tell me again- why were none of the "coalition" leaders brought to trial

for war crimes?

[Enthusiast]

18. Well, there is all that "look forward" stuff.

Funny, we've done a lot of that looking forward stuff, not only with Iraq but also torture, 911, the 2000 and 2004 elections, Wall Street malfeasance, Clarence Thomas and much much more. This is just a tad suspicious. I know who I won't vote for in 2012.

[certainot]

36. (you going to vote republican then) and clinton didn't prosecute reagan bush for october surprise,

drugs running, central american torture, etc. and on and on.

it's not just one guy in the white house, it's a lot of people in the party don't want to go there and start a revolution - a lot of people with fingers on a lot of buttons are involved.

well, it shouldn't need to be said i won't vote for any republicans.

[Enthusiast]

46. That's right. I won't vote for a Republican....nt

[hulka38]

57. This

"it's not just one guy in the white house, it's a lot of people in the party don't want to go there.." is true, but it in no way excuses that one guy in the white house or his advisors. Do you believe that prosecuting high crimes by the executive branch will cause a revolution? I think the American people might appreciate being told the truth about issues like going to war.

[certainot]

61. the left lets the republicans dominate media and the political gridlock caused by trying to put bush

in jail while trying to save the economy makes it one of those tough calls. there's also probably blackmailing threats going on. the republicans are completely corrupt and they still control big parts of the military and intel community.

the left gives 1000 think tank-coordinated radio stations a free speech free ride to create their own reality and scream bloody murder and threats and beat dem politicians with a political 2x4 all day long.

there is NO organized challenge to the RW radio monopoly - the right's best weapon. until then i don't think we can expect politicians to stick their necks out very far- we don't even get in the streets over stolen elections and they can kill senators in plane crashes, no problem.

they can spin and rationalize and get away with anything- in a democracy i don't see how we can expect our politicians to have to keep a shotgun by the door.

[certainot]

40. and maybe you didn't vote in 2010 ?

if we don't get in the streets for that shit it won't get better. we've let the republicans get away with so much. we didn't get in the streets for 2000 , 2004, we let them assassinate our politicians and heros and i hear a lot of people talking like out reps and presidents are supposed to keep a shotgun by the door. if it gets to that point we don't have a democracy - suddenly expecting obama to go all out when we can't even put up an organized challenge to the talk radio monopoly while it beats the crap out of our reps all day is absurd.

[boppers]

54. Because no prosecutor has been able to make a compelling case for it.

Simple as that.

Were war crimes committed? Yes. People got sent to jail for it.

Were those crimes systemic, and done on the the orders of the leaders?

That case has yet to be made and proven.

[KG]

25. shaming? the 'spooks' many times have their own agenda, too.

not the only time intelligence agencies have been a willing partner in a propaganda campaign that suits their purposes...

[Hubert Flottz]

28. The very same things Hitler did before he invaded Poland

Crimes against Peace, crimes against humanity.(premeditated mass murder for political reasons)

Edit...And now that we don't look back...it's the democrat's war too. I'd thought I was voting for a winner.

[harun]

31. Corrupt leaders. No justice ever sought against them.

[Diclotican]

33. kpete

kpete

This is not excactly "news" as it was discussed verry mutch on different forums, long before the invation in 2003.. Many had their doubts about what the british minister was telling the house of common and had doubts about it reality.. In fact, many was quiet sure it was a lie all along...

And now, the truth, come along as it allways does in the end...

But, wil this end up in proecution for the involved parties?.. I doubt it, if the truth about the Iraq war was coming out, many pepole in powerfull positions, on both side of the pound, wil end up in prison - and many others end their carriers premeturely.. Off course they could not let THAT happend.. So I guess, maybe at best some low key adwisors wil be trown to the lions, as most of them wil just go along as they allways have been doing.. I guess the Nuremberg Trial of 1946 was one of a kind trial, where the bigg bosses was indeed hanged for their crimes.. I doubt either Blair, Cheney or GWB wil ever se the inside of a cell...

Diclotican

[TatonkaJames]

34. I'll state it again

We would have never allowed our troops to invade knowing SH had any weapons at all. Can you imagine the nightmare scenario
had 150,000 troops been wiped out with bio-weapons in one shot ? The Idiot Bush, but more importantly, those in the know would
never have allowed that when they wanted an occupation.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

41. GW Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, etc. are psychopathic monsters who should be in prison

It makes me sick to my stomach when I think that these pigs are running free. They not only committed treason, but acts of unbelievable violence against innocents, lied to us incessantly, and got us into debt that shocks the mind. We are now suffering the aftermath of what these pigs did.

[PatSeg]

42. I get the feeling

that every other British Prime Minister wants to be the next Winston Churchill and they are willing to shape events to make it so.

[BlueMTexpat]

43. Dr David Kelly died under circumstances that are still quite murky

after saying that the Iraq dossier had been "sexed up."

BBC's Channel 4 was roundly criticized for reporting Dr Kelly's words and those associated with the report were forced to resign.

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

And all the war criminals associated with this are still at large.

To our everlasting shame.

[bigmonkey]

48. I saw Craig Murray (then the U.K. Uzbekistan ambassador) speak, and he implied worse.

First, he discovered that the U.K.government was treating as true things he was easily able to demonstrate to himself were wrong. For instance, the U.K. government reported a training camp in a particular place, and he realized he could just drive there to check. Nothing there at all.

The "worse" was that he implied that the U.K. government was using torture-extracted "information" to build its case, all the time knowing that the info was non-factual. What Murray implied was that the U.K. was encouraging the torture of prisoners by third parties with the goal of creating certain kinds of "facts" that would then be useful in making the case they wanted to make. The fact that the person tortured would say anything to escape the pain was being treated as a useful feature of torture - they were using a system of torture to manufacture support for their case, because they were treating torture-caused fabrications as "intelligence". This is really, really evil in my mind.

[Uncle Joe]

49. Kicked, recommended and bookmarked.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[daleo]

50. Authorities lie their way into a war - no punishment

This is one way the upper classes loot and plunder - bank bailouts are another. Both represent good old "moral hazard".

It is not too surprising when the marginalized groups in that same society ignore the law and loot in their own way.

[bvar22]

52. The Democratic Party Honor Roll:

These Democrats should be remembered for their principled stand against the WAR Machine.

IWR
The Authorization to Use Force in Iraq

United States Senate

In the Senate, the 21 Democrats, one Republican and one Independent courageously voted their consciences in 2002 against the War in Iraq :

Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii)
Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico)
Barbara Boxer (D-California)
Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia)
Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota)
Jon Corzine (D-New Jersey)
Mark Dayton (D-Minnesota)
Dick Durbin (D-Illinois)
Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin)
Bob Graham (D-Florida)
Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii)
Jim Jeffords (I-Vermont)
Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts)
Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)
Carl Levin (D-Michigan)
Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland)
Patty Murray (D-Washington)
Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island)
Paul Sarbanes (D-Maryland)
Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan)
The late Paul Wellstone (D-Minnesota)
Ron Wyden (D-Oregon)

Lincoln Chaffee (R-Rhode Island)


United States House of Representatives

Six House Republicans and one independent joined 126 Democratic members of the House of Represenatives:

Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii)
Tom Allen (D-Maine)
Joe Baca (D-California)
Brian Baird (D-Washington DC)
John Baldacci (D-Maine, now governor of Maine)
Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin)
Xavier Becerra (D-California)
Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon)
David Bonior (D-Michigan, retired from office)
Robert Brady (D-Pennsylvania)
Corinne Brown (D-Florida)
Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
Lois Capps (D-California)
Michael Capuano (D-Massachusetts)
Benjamin Cardin (D-Maryland)
Julia Carson (D-Indiana)
William Clay, Jr. (D-Missouri)
Eva Clayton (D-North Carolina, retired from office)
James Clyburn (D-South Carolina)
Gary Condit (D-California, retired from office)
John Conyers, Jr. (D-Michigan)
Jerry Costello (D-Illinois)
William Coyne (D-Pennsylvania, retired from office)
Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland)
Susan Davis (D-California)
Danny Davis (D-Illinois)
Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon)
Diana DeGette (D-Colorado)
Bill Delahunt (D-Massachusetts)
Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut)
John Dingell (D-Michigan)
Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas)
Mike Doyle (D-Pennsylvania)
Anna Eshoo (D-California)
Lane Evans (D-Illinois)
Sam Farr (D-California)
Chaka Fattah (D-Pennsylvania)
Bob Filner (D-California)
Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts)
Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas)
Luis Gutierrez (D-Illinois)
Alice Hastings (D-Florida)
Earl Hilliard (D-Alabama, retired from office)
Maurice Hinchey (D-New York)
Ruben Hinojosa (D-Texas)
Rush Holt (D-New Jersey)
Mike Honda (D-California)
Darlene Hooley (D-Oregon)
Inslee
Jackson (Il.)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Johnson, E.B.
Jones (OH)
Kaptur
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kleczka
Kucinich
LaFalce
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lipinski
Lofgren
Maloney (CT)
Matsui
McCarthy (MO)
McCollum
McDermott
McGovern
McKinney
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Menendez
Millender-McDonald
Miller
Mollohan
Moran (Va)
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Owens
Pallone
Pastor
Payne
Pelosi
Price (NC)
Rahall
Rangel
Reyes
Rivers
Rodriguez
Roybal-Allard
Rush
Sabo
Sanchez
Sanders
Sawyer
Schakowsky
Scott
Serrano
Slaughter
Snyder
Solis
Stark
Strickland
Stupak
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Tierney
Towns
Udall (NM)
Udall (CO)
Velazquez
Visclosky
Waters
Watson
Watt
Woolsey
Wu

(apologies for the loss of data)

There is NO valid excuse for those Democrats who voted FOR the Authorization to Use Force.
They KNEW what they were doing.
This gave Bush the Lesser permission to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis.
They chose Political Expediency over Morality,
and THAT should be the epitaph on their tombstones.

[Enthusiast]

58. Thank you for reminding us.

Very good!

[hulka38]

59. Hear, hear.

[defendandprotect]

60. Same thing Cheney did here with CIA analysts... pressuring them ... while Tenet watched...!!

[democrank]

62. They lied and people died.

LOTS of people.

[nineteen50]

63. You cannot fool

the willing.

[LetTimmySmoke]

64. Hopefullly the brits will do what we failed to do...

...and bring Tony Blair to justice.