New Iraq Documents Show How the British Public Was Duped on Iraq

Posted by Ian Dunt, Politics.co.uk at 11:25 AM on March 12, 2009.

New documents released under Freedom of Information legislation about how the Iraq dossier was compiled have today confirmed that the authors of the document were leaned on by Downing Street.

One memo to John Scarlett, copied to Alastair Campbell, specifically warns against too many caveats being included in the dossier, for fear of undermining the Government’s case.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Foreign Secretary, Edward Davey said:

“This confirms the widely held suspicions that leading officials and political advisers close to Tony Blair were deliberately tweaking the presentation of the intelligence to bolster the case for war on Iraq.

“The jigsaw of how the public and some MPs were duped nears completion with this crucial revelation, and further strengthens the case for a full public inquiry.

“Together these documents reveal a systematic and deliberate attempt to paint the worst possible case.

“Reading these documents, it becomes almost predictable that weapons of mass destruction were never going to be found, because, in reality, the intelligence was simply too ropey.

“It is almost as if Tony Blair had set up an ‘Excuses to go to War’ Department in Downing Street, given the clearly daft arguments that were being considered at various stages.”

Tagged as: iraq, tony blair, iraq invasion, downing street memo, alistair campbell, john scarlett