Straw questioned on withdrawal of Iraq intelligence
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, July 23, IRNA -- The Foreign Affairs Select Committee has written Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to ask why he had failed to tell them that a crucial piece of intelligence had been withdrawn by MI6 during its inquiry on the Iraq war last year. Straw has admitted that he was told about the withdrawal of evidence about Iraq`s weapons of mass destruction that proved to be unreliable in September 2003. But Prime Minister Tony Blair has claimed that he did not know until it was identified by the Butler inquiry into the quality of intelligence that found "serious flaws" last week. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has also said that he found at the same time as Blair. Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Labour MP Donald Anderson has insisted that his committee`s inquiry into the Iraq war was not being reopened, but seeking clarification on "very limited terms." The decision to write to Straw came after pressure from Conservative and Liberal Democrat members on the all-party committee winning a vote on Wednesday night after two Labour members abstained. "We would be negligent in our duty to parliament and the country if we did not reopen our inquiry," Conservative MP Andrew Mackay said, adding that it was very important that the matter was cleared up. Last year, the committee narrowly avoided censuring Prime Minister Tony Blair`s office, largely on the casting vote of Anderson, after questioning the justification for the war. HC/1432
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