*Ø* Blogmanac | "The story that won't go away" - no matter how desperate they are to put a lid on it

5 February

Howard: Blair should resign over WMD claim

"Michael Howard today called on Tony Blair to resign, accusing him of failing to ask basic questions before committing Britain to war. The Tory leader's comments come after Mr Blair revealed to MPs yesterday that he was unaware that the intelligence that Iraq could launch weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes referred only to battlefield munitions, not any missile capability." Source

CIA backs WMD analysis

"The head of the CIA has denied that his organisation ever claimed before the war that Iraq posed an imminent threat. In his first public defence of pre-war intelligence, George Tenet said analysts had varying opinions on the state of Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programmes -- differences which were spelled out to the White House." Source

BBC governors ignored legal advice

"BBC governors spurned their lawyers' advice that Lord Hutton's report was legally flawed and instead offered the fulsome apology that Downing Street demanded, it emerged last night.

"A 135-page confidential document, leaked to The Independent, accuses Alastair Campbell, the former Downing Street communications chief, of making 'false' statements to Parliament over his role in drawing up the September 2002 dossier.

"The BBC's lawyers also suggested that Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, misled MPs over disquiet within the intelligence community over the dossier, the main plank in the Government's case for war. They go on to outline 12 main areas Lord Hutton ignored in his report, delivered eight days ago, and say his findings were 'wrong' in law."

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