Defense minister quits amid intelligence furor (IRAQ WMDs)

[radfringe]

Defense minister quits amid intelligence furor
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/04/24/defense_minister_quits_amid_intelligence_furor/
By Jan M. Olsen, Associated Press | April 24, 2004

COPENHAGEN -- Denmark's defense minister resigned yesterday as lawmakers questioned military intelligence reports the government used to justify its support for the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Svend Aage Jensby said he was stepping down because of a "smear campaign" by critics who say the government lied about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

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Danish lawmakers have questioned the military's allegations about Hussein's weapons of mass destruction after a former military intelligence analyst was fired for leaking portions of two confidential reports to a newspaper in February. The analyst claimed Fogh Rasmussen lied to lawmakers in 2002 when he sought support for the war to oust Hussein.

On Monday, Rear Admiral Joern Olesen, chief of Denmark's Defense Intelligence Service, said the agency had always believed that Iraq "probably had biological and chemical weapons," adding that the documents were based on information gathered by the United Nations and NATO.

But a Danish intelligence report dated March 7, 2003, concluded that there was no "certain information" that Iraq had working weapons of mass destruction.