Butler Report on WMD was watered down to protect Blair

[Hoping4Change]

London Telegraph
By Melissa Kite and Patrick Hennessy
(Filed: 18/07/2004)

Downing Street secured vital changes to the Butler Report before its publication, watering down an explicit criticism of Tony Blair and the way he made the case for war in the House of Commons.

The Telegraph has established that the disagreement between No 10 and Lord Butler's inquiry team centred on a passage in an original draft of the report about Mr Blair's statement to MPs in September 2002. The original passage drew a much clearer contrast than the final version of the Butler Report between the strong case for war made by Mr Blair and the weakness of the intelligence the Prime Minister received about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

The changes secured by No 10 diluted the criticism of Mr Blair and helped Downing Street to mount its main defence - that the report showed that the Prime Minister was acting in good faith.

A member of Lord Butler's team has disclosed to The Telegraph that changes were made at the behest of No 10. ....


snip

According to a member of the inquiry, however, the Prime Minister should not be regarded as in the clear. "The whole thing points straight to the man in charge . . . absolutely to where responsibility belongs, which is the Prime Minister, which is what we could not say."

The disclosures will put further pressure on Mr Blair following the revelation that the earlier Hutton inquiry was not told about the withdrawal of key intelligence which formed the basis for claims made by the dossier. Downing Street admitted that MI6 withdrew some elements of the intelligence supporting the Government's case for war because it was unreliable, but decided not to tell the Hutton inquiry.

snip


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/07/18/nbut18.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/07/18/ixnewstop.html

[GAspnes]

1. sex up, dumb down (n/t)