Home
20 years after the war... Dramatic details about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]The moment Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled in 2003
2023-03-14 00:38
Share
Font
Shafaq News / Today, Tuesday, the British BBC announced the production of a series entitled: Shock and War: Iraq after 20 years, which is based on conversations with dozens of people directly concerned, while showing new details about the search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
The British Network said, in a report it published, that after twenty years of the war on Iraq, the debate is still raging about the existence of "weapons of mass destruction" that provided the justification for the UK's intervention in the military operation.
The report states that "CIA officers also remember the shock of their British counterparts." Louis Rueda, head of the CIA's Iraq operations group, recalled their reactions, saying, "I thought they were going to have a heart attack in front of me on the table." Soon a message of plans arrived. The invasion into Downing Street. It was intelligence men, not diplomats, who handed it over."
Prepare for the Iraq War
In a rare interview with the BBC, the then head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, Sir Richard Dearlove, who was a frequent visitor to Washington, said: "I was probably the first to say to the prime minister: 'Like it or not, you will make all the necessary preparations, because it seems as if they They are preparing for an invasion.
For the United States, the issue of weapons of mass destruction was secondary to a deeper attempt to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "We would have invaded Iraq even if Saddam Hussein had only a rubber band and a paper clip," says Luis Rueda, head of the CIA's Iraq Operations Group.
For the UK, when it came to convincing a skeptical public of the necessity of invading Iraq, the alleged threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction - chemical, biological and nuclear weapons - was central.
At times it has been alleged that the UK government has fabricated claims relating to weapons of mass destruction. But ministers at the time say they were reassured by their spies that the weapons were there.
reliance on intelligence information
Former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair said: "It's really important to understand that the intelligence I was getting was what I was relying on." On the eve of the invasion, Blair indicated that he sought and received reassurances from the Joint Intelligence Committee. He refuses to criticize the intelligence services for having received false assurances, while other ministers say they had doubts at the time.
When asked if he viewed the invasion of Iraq as an intelligence failure, Sir Richard replied simply: "No". He still believes that Iraq had some kind of weapons program and that its personnel may have been moved across the border into Syria.
But others disagree with this view. "It was a huge failure," says Sir David Omand, then the UK's security and intelligence coordinator. He says that confirmation bias led government experts to hear bits of information that supported the idea that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and to rule out anything else.
Fears of the British Secret Intelligence Service
Some within Britain's Secret Intelligence Service say they had concerns, too. "At the time I felt like what we were doing was wrong," says one of the officers who served in Iraq, who has not spoken before and asked not to be named.
Speaking of early 2002, the former officer added, "There was no intelligence and no new or credible assessment that Iraq had restarted its WMD programs and that they posed an imminent threat. I think from the government's perspective that was the only justification they could find." On it.. the weapons of mass destruction were the only excuse they could hang the legitimacy of the invasion on.”
Until the spring of 2002, existing intelligence was patchy. The old Secret Intelligence Service agents in Iraq had little or no information about weapons of mass destruction, and there was a desperate search for new intelligence from fresh sources to support the case, especially when planning a dossier for the month of September.
On the 12th of September Sir Richard entered Downing Street with news of an important new source. This person claimed that Saddam Hussein had resumed his weapons programs, and promised to provide new details soon. Although this source has not undergone full vetting processes and its information has not been shared with experts, the details have been handed over to the Prime Minister.
Other intelligence sources say that in the following months, this new source never delivered the details he had promised, and the government eventually saw him as fabricating the information he provided. Sources argue that information quality control was breaking down.
fabricating information
It was possible that some of the new sources made up the information for money or because they wanted to see Saddam Hussein removed from office. In January 2003, BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera interviewed a defector from Saddam's intelligence service in Jordan, who claimed he had been involved in developing mobile biological weapons laboratories, out of sight of UN inspectors.
His allegations made it into Secretary of State Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations in February 2003, even though some within the administration had already issued an intelligence notice that the information could not be trusted.
It is worth remembering that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, according to the BBC report. A few weeks before the 2003 war, security reporter Gordon Correra visited the village of Halabja in northern Iraq and heard locals describe a day in 1988 when Saddam's army dropped chemical weapons. on them. The truth about what happened to those weapons did not emerge until after the war.
Saddam had ordered the destruction of a large part of his weapons of mass destruction program in the early nineties after the first Gulf War, according to the British BBC; This was in the hope of getting a clean bill of health from UN weapons inspectors, a senior Iraqi scientist said later.
Perhaps the Iraqi leader was hoping to restart the programs at a later date. But he secretly destroyed everything; In part, according to the BBC report, it was to maintain an illusion that he might still have something he could use against neighboring Iran, with which he had just gone to war. So when UN inspectors later asked Iraq to prove that he had destroyed everything, he couldn't.
Search for weapons of mass destruction
By the end of 2002, UN inspectors returned to Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction. Some of those inspectors who first spoke to the BBC recalled looking at sites where intelligence from the West suggested the mobile laboratories might be located. But they find nothing but what they might call a "great ice cream truck" covered in cobwebs.
Little did the public know at the time that with war looming, sources failing to deliver promised information and inspectors unable to obtain evidence, there were concerns. “Panic” is the word an insider used to describe the situation at the time. "My future is in your hands," Blair said half-jokingly to Sir Richard in January 2003, as pressure was mounting to find evidence of weapons of mass destruction.
"It was depressing at the time," Sir Richard now recalls. Sir Richard accused the inspectors of being "incompetent"; For their failure to find any evidence. Hans Blix, who led the UN's chemical and biological inspections, told the BBC that until early 2003 he believed there were weapons, but began to suspect them after intelligence failed to provide firm evidence. He wanted more time to get answers, but he didn't get it.
The failure to find "conclusive evidence" will not stop the war in March 2003.
Avoid military action
While Tony Blair told the BBC: "I tried until the last minute to avoid military action." President George Bush, fearing that his ally might lose a vote in Parliament on the eve of the war, offered him, in a video call, the chance to back out of the invasion and only participate in its aftermath, but the British Prime Minister refused.
He also defended his decision as a matter of principle in terms of the need to deal with Saddam Hussein, and also because of the need to preserve the relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States. "The withdrawal could have had a huge impact on the relationship," Blair said.
But no weapons of mass destruction were found after that. “It all fell apart,” says a former British Secret Intelligence Service officer, recalling an internal review of sources after the war. This would have deep and lasting consequences in the work and relationships of both spies and politicians.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]The moment Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled in 2003
2023-03-14 00:38
Share
Font
Shafaq News / Today, Tuesday, the British BBC announced the production of a series entitled: Shock and War: Iraq after 20 years, which is based on conversations with dozens of people directly concerned, while showing new details about the search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
The British Network said, in a report it published, that after twenty years of the war on Iraq, the debate is still raging about the existence of "weapons of mass destruction" that provided the justification for the UK's intervention in the military operation.
The report states that "CIA officers also remember the shock of their British counterparts." Louis Rueda, head of the CIA's Iraq operations group, recalled their reactions, saying, "I thought they were going to have a heart attack in front of me on the table." Soon a message of plans arrived. The invasion into Downing Street. It was intelligence men, not diplomats, who handed it over."
Prepare for the Iraq War
In a rare interview with the BBC, the then head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, Sir Richard Dearlove, who was a frequent visitor to Washington, said: "I was probably the first to say to the prime minister: 'Like it or not, you will make all the necessary preparations, because it seems as if they They are preparing for an invasion.
For the United States, the issue of weapons of mass destruction was secondary to a deeper attempt to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "We would have invaded Iraq even if Saddam Hussein had only a rubber band and a paper clip," says Luis Rueda, head of the CIA's Iraq Operations Group.
For the UK, when it came to convincing a skeptical public of the necessity of invading Iraq, the alleged threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction - chemical, biological and nuclear weapons - was central.
At times it has been alleged that the UK government has fabricated claims relating to weapons of mass destruction. But ministers at the time say they were reassured by their spies that the weapons were there.
reliance on intelligence information
Former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair said: "It's really important to understand that the intelligence I was getting was what I was relying on." On the eve of the invasion, Blair indicated that he sought and received reassurances from the Joint Intelligence Committee. He refuses to criticize the intelligence services for having received false assurances, while other ministers say they had doubts at the time.
When asked if he viewed the invasion of Iraq as an intelligence failure, Sir Richard replied simply: "No". He still believes that Iraq had some kind of weapons program and that its personnel may have been moved across the border into Syria.
But others disagree with this view. "It was a huge failure," says Sir David Omand, then the UK's security and intelligence coordinator. He says that confirmation bias led government experts to hear bits of information that supported the idea that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and to rule out anything else.
Fears of the British Secret Intelligence Service
Some within Britain's Secret Intelligence Service say they had concerns, too. "At the time I felt like what we were doing was wrong," says one of the officers who served in Iraq, who has not spoken before and asked not to be named.
Speaking of early 2002, the former officer added, "There was no intelligence and no new or credible assessment that Iraq had restarted its WMD programs and that they posed an imminent threat. I think from the government's perspective that was the only justification they could find." On it.. the weapons of mass destruction were the only excuse they could hang the legitimacy of the invasion on.”
Until the spring of 2002, existing intelligence was patchy. The old Secret Intelligence Service agents in Iraq had little or no information about weapons of mass destruction, and there was a desperate search for new intelligence from fresh sources to support the case, especially when planning a dossier for the month of September.
On the 12th of September Sir Richard entered Downing Street with news of an important new source. This person claimed that Saddam Hussein had resumed his weapons programs, and promised to provide new details soon. Although this source has not undergone full vetting processes and its information has not been shared with experts, the details have been handed over to the Prime Minister.
Other intelligence sources say that in the following months, this new source never delivered the details he had promised, and the government eventually saw him as fabricating the information he provided. Sources argue that information quality control was breaking down.
fabricating information
It was possible that some of the new sources made up the information for money or because they wanted to see Saddam Hussein removed from office. In January 2003, BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera interviewed a defector from Saddam's intelligence service in Jordan, who claimed he had been involved in developing mobile biological weapons laboratories, out of sight of UN inspectors.
His allegations made it into Secretary of State Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations in February 2003, even though some within the administration had already issued an intelligence notice that the information could not be trusted.
It is worth remembering that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, according to the BBC report. A few weeks before the 2003 war, security reporter Gordon Correra visited the village of Halabja in northern Iraq and heard locals describe a day in 1988 when Saddam's army dropped chemical weapons. on them. The truth about what happened to those weapons did not emerge until after the war.
Saddam had ordered the destruction of a large part of his weapons of mass destruction program in the early nineties after the first Gulf War, according to the British BBC; This was in the hope of getting a clean bill of health from UN weapons inspectors, a senior Iraqi scientist said later.
Perhaps the Iraqi leader was hoping to restart the programs at a later date. But he secretly destroyed everything; In part, according to the BBC report, it was to maintain an illusion that he might still have something he could use against neighboring Iran, with which he had just gone to war. So when UN inspectors later asked Iraq to prove that he had destroyed everything, he couldn't.
Search for weapons of mass destruction
By the end of 2002, UN inspectors returned to Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction. Some of those inspectors who first spoke to the BBC recalled looking at sites where intelligence from the West suggested the mobile laboratories might be located. But they find nothing but what they might call a "great ice cream truck" covered in cobwebs.
Little did the public know at the time that with war looming, sources failing to deliver promised information and inspectors unable to obtain evidence, there were concerns. “Panic” is the word an insider used to describe the situation at the time. "My future is in your hands," Blair said half-jokingly to Sir Richard in January 2003, as pressure was mounting to find evidence of weapons of mass destruction.
"It was depressing at the time," Sir Richard now recalls. Sir Richard accused the inspectors of being "incompetent"; For their failure to find any evidence. Hans Blix, who led the UN's chemical and biological inspections, told the BBC that until early 2003 he believed there were weapons, but began to suspect them after intelligence failed to provide firm evidence. He wanted more time to get answers, but he didn't get it.
The failure to find "conclusive evidence" will not stop the war in March 2003.
Avoid military action
While Tony Blair told the BBC: "I tried until the last minute to avoid military action." President George Bush, fearing that his ally might lose a vote in Parliament on the eve of the war, offered him, in a video call, the chance to back out of the invasion and only participate in its aftermath, but the British Prime Minister refused.
He also defended his decision as a matter of principle in terms of the need to deal with Saddam Hussein, and also because of the need to preserve the relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States. "The withdrawal could have had a huge impact on the relationship," Blair said.
But no weapons of mass destruction were found after that. “It all fell apart,” says a former British Secret Intelligence Service officer, recalling an internal review of sources after the war. This would have deep and lasting consequences in the work and relationships of both spies and politicians.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
» PM stresses Iraq's aspiration to strengthen cooperation and partnership with the US within the Strat
» US dollar exchange rate increases in Iraq
» Iraq reviews cooperation with Honeywell in energy sector
» Environment: US withdrawal from Paris climate agreement threatens Iraq
» Users having a birthday today : dcbelanger
» Central Bank: Closing the electronic platform enhances financial stability
» UGT donates feasibility study to Iraq on bringing solar energy to homes
» "Oil Money Is Not Enough" Parliament's Finance
» "Oil Money Is Not Enough" Parliament's Finance
» Clarification of the importance of the Central Bank’s decision to ban the sale of real estate above
» Signing a memorandum of understanding with British Petroleum / BP regarding a program to evaluate th
» Al-Sudani receives in London the CEO of GE for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region
» Iraq, General Electric discuss energy initiatives
» Shell plans to increase investments in Iraq
» Iraq’s economic growth forecast for 2024: A promising path forward
» Parliamentary Finance: Banking reform enhances Iraq's global
» Localization.. Signs of positive development to support the national economy
» Experts call for activating the agriculture and industry sectors
» The Central Bank of Iraq directs banks to spread and expand their financial services
» Al-Sudani: British exports to Iraq exceeded $1 billion in 2024, and its companies concluded contrac
» Above $80.. New rise in oil prices
» Coordination Framework announces agreement to move forward with budget amendments to achieve "social
» I regret to inform you after 20 yrs of postings
» Central Bank of Iraq sells over $1.16 billion in foreign currency
» Iraq-China trade cooperation reaches $50 billion in 11 months
» Salih: Iraq ranks first in the world in the concentration of natural resources
» PM Advisor: The monetary enhancement mechanism will safeguard financial stability in the country
» Government Adviser: Non-Oil GDP Growth in 2024 Reaches Unprecedented Levels
» Parliament conforms to World Bank on the importance of government infrastructure in development
» PM: Restructuring government banks to ensure the availability of capabilities and openness with glob
» entral Bank: There is no financial problem threatening employees’ salaries and we have great capabil
» Basra crude achieves weekly gains amid rising oil markets
» The dollar falls against the dinar in Baghdad and Erbil with the closing at the beginning of the wee
» PM Al-Sudani eyes tourism as a cornerstone of Iraq’s non-oil economy
» PMF Chief: Iraq's armed forces at their strongest
» INA discusses exchange rates files, foreign transfers, and housing initiatives with the CBI governor
» Government Adviser: Non-Oil GDP Growth in 2024 Reaches Unprecedented Levels
» Parliament conforms to World Bank on the importance of government infrastructure in development
» Iraq exports oil worth over $5 billion to US in 11 months
» Iraq’s Ministry of Oil announces 2024 petroleum product sales
» US dollar exchange rate continues to decline in Iraq
» Iraq completes 400-kilometer security border wall with Syria
» Iraq collaborates with Ernst & Young on state-owned bank reforms
» Kurdistan records a significant increase in the number of imported cars during 2024
» The Ministry of Justice announces the implementation of the electronic payment system in all notary
» The Ministry of Justice counts the achievements and activities achieved during the past year accordi
» Central Bank: We have started working with the correspondent banking system
» Is the Ministry of Finance hiding the facts?.. An expert reveals the main reason for the shortage of
» Reconstruction: 2025 plan includes 70 external road projects
» Economist: The government is obligated to pay salaries as it is a matter of fate
» The Central Bank of Iraq opens new horizons in foreign transfers and enhances international financia
» Judge Zidane and Al-Sudani are the first to disclose their financial assets in 2025
» Oil Price: Trump's Team Considers 'Direct Sanctions' on Iraq That Will Hit Oil
» Parliamentary Integrity: The amounts recovered from the “theft of the century” do not exceed 5%, and
» Dinars entering the Ministry of Finance are 20% less than the amount it needs.. Iraqis start their n
» Mazhar Saleh: No salary crisis and financial reserves cover liquidity completely
» Central Bank announces major achievement in foreign transfers
» Confirmation that America is putting pressure on Al-Sudani to transform the Iraqi regime into "secul
» Warnings of the dangers of the Turkish-Zionist-American plan to destabilize Iraq
» Expert: Iraqi economy is stable despite changes in the dollar market
» Economist praises ASYCUDA automation system: A step towards achieving important resources
» More than $60 billion in Iraqi currency auction sales in 2024
» Is there a salary crisis in Iraq? Al-Sudani’s advisor explains
» The Central Bank decides to suspend withdrawals and deposits for four days
» Al-Sudani Office announces the implementation of the global ASYCUDA system to automate customs opera
» The leaders “reconciled” and the amendment of the electoral law is “a done deal”.. What does this da
» With the document .. MP Sand files a complaint against the Ministry of Finance .. for this reason
» Parliamentary Finance: The government is working to enhance non-oil revenues
» The 10 most indebted Arab countries in 2024.. This is Iraq's rank
» utube 12/27/24 MM&C MM&C Iraq Dinar News-Iraqs Wealth Fund-National Currency-Arab World Volume Tra
» utube 12/28/24 Iraq - CBI Governor Makes an Announcement, Digital Banking Expansion
» utube 12/29/24 MM&C MM&C Iraq Dinar News-Digital Transformation-Global Economic Power-USA-Imminent
» utube 12/31/24 MM&C MM&C Iraq Dinar News-Commemorative Coin?-Investment Attractive-Dollar Auction
» Al-Sudani chairs expanded meeting to review Oil Ministry projects
» Prime Minister stresses importance of investing best opportunities to maximize state revenues
» Prime Minister's Office announces implementation of ASYCUDA global system for automating customs ope
» Judiciary: Recovering 12 billion dinars for financial fraud crime
» US-Iranian Tension: Iraq Between Competition and Mediation Role After Trump’s Return
» MP confirms settlement of controversy over ministerial amendments
» National Union: Time is no longer sufficient for the dialogue on the oil and gas law to mature
» Economist: Relying on oil as a source of revenue will have serious consequences
» Al-Maliki: Repeated amendments to the election law weaken voter confidence in the political process
» Parliamentary Legal: Interrogating ministers and officials is still subject to political agreements
» Due to the American veto, Iraq suffers from a weak armament in the face of regional developments
» What is holding up the passage of the oil and gas law so far?
» New Cabinet Resolutions Package
» Experts speak to {Sabah} about the most important economic events in 2024
» Al-Sudani stresses the importance of review and investing the best opportunities to maximize state r
» With more than 30 billion dollars... a leap in the projects market in Iraq
» Central Bank of Iraq sells about $290 million in currency auction
» Customs: Our revenues increased by 128% during the current year
» Our Economic and Financial Vision for 2025 in Iraq
» How much of Iraq's electrical system has been lost due to the halt of Iranian gas?
» $31.7 billion is the increase in the value of its market projects in Iraq
» Turkmen gas will cover 50% of Iraq's stations' needs.. New details about the agreement
» Basra-Haditha oil pipeline.. will go to 5 countries and this is its value
» Early talk about postponing the elections is “evidence” of Iraq’s entry into the map of change in th
» New details on the incident of the "death of a US National Guard soldier" in Iraq - Urgent