UK government crisis results from its attack on Iraq
A Reuters report available today on Yahoo News terms the fallout from the UK government decision to join the US in its attack on Iraq "...most damaging crisis of the Labor leader's [Tony Blair's] six-year rule." Reuters quotes from an internal UK government email from ..."Blair's chief of staff and long-time confidant Jonathan Powell" made public during week 2 of the Hutton inquiry into the death of David Kelly. Reuters quotes Powell as writing: ' "The document does nothing to demonstrate a threat, let alone an imminent threat from (Iraqi President) Saddam (Hussein)..." ' It is not clear what specific document is referred to, but the email was written in the context of the intelligence dossier about the extent of the threat posed by Iraq.
The Reuters report further states that "The inquiry also saw an e-mail between Campbell and Powell, dated September 5, in which Campbell said a decision was taken for a "substantial rewrite" of the dossier and a restructuring of the document "as per TB (Tony Blair's) discussion." This gets to the heart of the fight between the BBC and and Alistair Campbell about whether or not Tony Blair's office "sexed up" the intelligence dossier that was publicly released to justify the UK's participation in the attack on Iraq.
The revelation of the emails has cast further doubt on the UK government's claim that Saddam Hussein was an imminent and dangerous threat. The Reuters report also cites a recent poll in the UK that shows that "...68 percent [of the British public] think the government was dishonest over the Iraq war."
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