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UK ministers warned about misuse of intelligence services

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, July 9, IRNA -- Next week`s report on the use of intelligence 
in the lead-up to the Iraq war will warn ministers that they must 
not misuse the intelligence services for partisan reasons. 
The unscheduled preview of the findings were revealed by former 
Conservative minister Michael Mates, who is one of the five members 
of the committee, headed by former cabinet secretary Lord Butler, 
appointed to carry out the inquiry. 
Speaking in parliament on Thursday, he suggested that the report, 
due to be published next Wednesday, will also focus on the 
"limitations" of intelligence. 
"For far too long people have rested with (the) impression that 
intelligence can tell you everything and that if you put enough 
resources into it, you will know what it is you need to know," Mates 
said. 
"This is not the case and I don`t think I am going to surprise 
anyone or breach any confidences when I say that in our report that 
will be published next week this subject is likely to be raised 
again," he told MPs. 
The former security minister for Northern Ireland said that it is 
"so important that all of us get this across to the outside world: 
that intelligence does have its limitations." 
The Butler committee, which was appointed by Prime Minister Tony 
Blair, is expected to focus mainly on the government`s controversial 
Iraqi arms dossier, published in September 2002, which was largely 
used to justify the Iraq war. 
This included the now notorious claim that Saddam Hussein`s 
regime was a threat to British interests and could launch weapons of 
mass destruction within 45 minutes. 
Mates indicated that ministers would come under scrutiny next 
week when he emphasized the importance of not misusing intelligence. 
"In this house, we have to place a certain amount of trust in 
ministers to conduct themselves honestly and not to misuse the 
agencies or the intelligence they provide for partisan or other 
purposes," he told parliament. 
"It is the misuse of intelligence which undermines trust in the 
agencies and reduces the authority of their statements. That trust 
must be maintained even if the price for that is ministers, and 
indeed we on the committee can`t always make public the intelligence 
on which decisions have been based," he said. 
HC/2321/1432