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| You are misplaced along with: Home > News | 8th February |
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 Downing Street drafts clarifications of Blair's statements on Iraq3 Feb 2004 by Malcolm Drury
Downing Street spin-doctors have recently been hard at work drafting "clarifications" of Prime Minister Tony Blair's statements regarding Britain's involvement in US President "Boy" George W. Bush's war against failed dictator Saddam Hussein™, DeadBrain has learned.
The clarifications are intended to complement a statement issued earlier today in which the government said it understands why MPs on Parliament's intelligence committee were worried about the claim, mentioned four times in its September 2002 dossier, that Mr. Saddam was able to launch WMD-bearing missiles within 45 minutes. Some analysts interpreted the claim to mean that British forces in Cyprus were under direct and immediate threat from Iraqi missiles. In its somewhat belated statement, the government notes, "that the dossier did not say that Iraq could deliver chemical or biological weapons by ballistic missiles within 45 minutes." Speaking to our reporter on condition of anonymity, a Downing Street official said similar clarifications have been drafted to respond to potential challenges of some of the Prime Minister's previous statements on Iraq, in case they are needed. He provided a number of examples that show clearly that the PM has consistently stated the facts as they have been determined subsequent to the invasion and conquest of Iraq, and that he has never used words of massive deception. Statement of 10 April 2002, House of Commons"Saddam Hussein's regime is despicable, he is developing weapons of mass destruction, and we cannot leave him doing so unchecked." Clarification: The statement quite clearly says that Mr. Saddam is personally developing WMDs. As such, it is obvious that development to the stage of deployment and use would take a very long time, and so there was no immediate direct threat to the UK or its interests. Statement of 18 March 2003, House of Commons"We are asked now seriously to accept that in the last few years - contrary to all history, contrary to all intelligence - Saddam decided unilaterally to destroy those weapons. I say that such a claim is palpably absurd." Clarification: The statement makes it clear that Mr. Saddam would make such a decision unilaterally, that is, without extensive discussion with his senior military commanders. As it is obvious that the latter would never agree to such a move, it can only mean that he had no WMD to destroy. Statement of 25 February 2003, House of Commons"The biological agents we believe Iraq can produce include anthrax, botulinum, toxin, aflatoxin and ricin." Clarification: The statement quite plainly says the government merely believes that Iraq can produce the agents; it does not say that they have been produced. Statement of 4 June 2003, House of Commons"As I have said throughout, I have no doubt that they [the Iraq survey group] will find the clearest possible evidence of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction." Clarification: The evidence to which the statement refers could be either that of the presence or absence of WMD. The statement quite clearly, and properly, covers both cases. Statement of 8 July 2003, Evidence to Commons liaison committee"I have absolutely no doubt at all that we will find evidence of weapons of mass destruction programmes." Clarification: The statement plainly does not specifically mention Iraq. It could well be referring to the UK or any of our NATO allies. Statement of 25 January 2004, Interview with the Observer newspaper"I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that the intelligence was genuine." Clarification: the PM is referring to his own vast intelligence. The Downing Street official said that these, and many other, clarifications, were to be sent to Lord Hutton for validation. Related Articles Government counterattack: Troops occupy Broadcasting House 3 Feb 2004 United Nations fact inspectors to be sent into USA and UK 1 Feb 2004 Entire BBC, rest of country except government resign over Hutton Report 30 Jan 2004 DeadBrain exclusive: Hutton to replace Dyke at BBC 30 Jan 2004 Campbell demands more changes at BBC 30 Jan 2004
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