Blair – ISG report reveals clear intent
Tony Blair has said that whilst he accepts the findings of the Iraq Survey Group report that Saddam Hussein did not possess weapons of mass destruction, he has called on others to recognise that the report shows “intent”.
The ISG, which published its long-awaited report on Tuesday, said it had found evidence of “WMD-related activities” but no actual weapons.
But the 1000-page report, which concludes the interim report last year, does note discoveries of non-WMD programmes banned by the United Nations.
The ISG also found Iraq had maintained laboratories containing equipment suitable for pursuing WMD research.
In the wake of the report’s findings, Tony Blair told journalists at a news conference with Ethiopian counterpart Meles Zenawi in Africa: “I welcome the report because what it will show is that this is a far more complicated situation than many people thought.
“And just as I have had to accept that the evidence now is that there were not stockpiles of actual weapons ready to be deployed I hope others have the honesty to accept that the report also shows that sanctions weren’t working.
“That, on the contrary, Saddam Hussein was doing his best to get round those sanctions and had every intention of redeveloping those programmes.
“He was retaining the teams of scientists and the facilities to do so and there were multiple breaches of UN resolutions which were the ultimate legal justification for the conflict.
“I have already accepted what I have to accept but I hope others will accept that it’s also clear that there was every intention on Saddam’s part to develop these weapons and he never had any intention of complying with the UN resolutions.”
Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, speaking in Baghdad, said the threat from pre-war Iraq was even “starker” than hitherto believed.
However, those opposed to the war have seized on the report. Liberal Democrats foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell said “brick by brick” the Blair government’s case for war with Iraq was being demolished.
