Inquiry says British Iraq intelligence ``seriously flawed''

ED JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, July 14, 2004


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(07-14) 06:21 PDT LONDON (AP) --

Iraq had no useable chemical or biological weapons before the war, and
British intelligence relied in part on "seriously flawed" or
"unreliable" sources, an official inquiry reported Wednesday.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's accepted the report's findings and took
"personal responsibility," although his government was absolved of
"deliberate distortion or culpable negligence."

In a statement to the House of Commons, Blair conceded that it was
"increasingly clear" Saddam Hussein had no stockpiles of illicit
weapons on the eve of the war. But he insisted the U.S. led military
campaign was not a mistake.

"I have to accept, as the months have passed, it seems increasingly
clear that at the time of invasion Saddam did not have stockpiles of
chemical or biological weapons ready to deploy," Blair said.

But, he insisted, "I cannot honestly say I believe getting rid of
Saddam was a mistake at all. Iraq, the region, the wider world is a
better and safer place without Saddam."

Lord Butler's report, echoing the damning findings of last week's U.S.
Senate report, said that Iraq "did not have significant, if any,
stocks of chemical or biological weapons in a state fit for deployment
or developed plans for using them."

The report said the government's claim in a September 2002 dossier
that Saddam could use chemical and biological weapons on 45 minutes
notice was potentially misleading because it did not explain that it
referred to battlefield weapons.

However, the report backed the government's claim that it had
intelligence that Iraq had sought uranium in Africa, and that the
claim was not based on forged documents.

"No one lied, no one made up the intelligence, no one inserted things
into dossier against the advice of intelligence services," Blair said.

"Everyone genuinely tried to do their best in good faith for the
country in circumstances of acute difficulty. That issue of good faith
should now be at an end," he said.