Blix Says; Blair Made WMD Mistake

21/07/2003| IslamWeb

The former head of the UN weapons inspectors Hans Blix has told a British newspaper that Tony Blair made a "fundamental mistake" in claiming that Saddam Hussein could deploy weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes. Although Blix has previously expressed doubts about Britain and America's use of intelligence, his remarks to the Independent on Sunday go further than before. He said the figure of 45 minutes to deploy weapons of mass destruction seemed "pretty far off the mark" to him. He told the newspaper that in his opinion Tony Blair over interpreted the intelligence Britain had - although Downing Street has strongly defended its use of the 45 minute claim. The claim appeared in a dossier presented to Parliament last September as the government set out its first justifications for eventual military action in Iraq. Last Monday, a cross-party committee of MPs found that the claim "did not warrant the prominence given to it" although it cleared Mr Blair's media chief Alastair Campbell of inserting it in the dossier. **Uranium Split*** And on Saturday, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Donald Anderson, said the government should make available more information about the source which said Iraq was trying to obtain uranium from Niger. The uranium claim, which was also first made public in the September dossier, was used by both governments to build a case for going to war over Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. The claim was then cited in President Bush's State of the Union speech to Congress in January. Bush said: "The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa". The White House now says that was a mistake - the CIA had information that the Niger claim was based on fraudulent documents. The head of the CIA, George Tenet, has taken the blame for its inclusion in the speech and Bush has said he now considers the matter closed. **Lack of Communication*** However, on Saturday the UK defended the Niger claim, saying it had intelligence from a separate source that the CIA did not know about. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the UK had additional information to support the claim that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger, but this intelligence had not been passed on to the US administration. The comments, in a letter from Straw to senior Labour MP Anderson, reveals a lack of consultation between British and US intelligence officials. It shows that the US did not reveal a report compiled by a special envoy in Niger rubbishing suggestions that Iraq was trying to obtain uranium - while Britain did not reveal to America its own intelligence on African uranium because it came from another foreign intelligence service. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Hans Blix, former executive chairman of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), speaks to reporters June 30, 2003 REUTERS TV