UK rejected al-Qaeda links with Iraq, inquiry told
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, Nov 25, IRNA -- The UK government rejected claims of links between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s regime prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Iraq war inquiry was told Wednesday.
The UK investigated the claim but decided they were not "natural allies", Foreign Office officials said. It found that despite "sporadic" contacts between al-Qaeda members and Iraq in the 1990s, there was no "serious collaboration".
Inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot said he was seeking a "clear account" of the government's assessment of the Iraqi threat in the run-up to the 2003 war and how that corresponded to what was discovered after the invasion.
The reasons for going to war in Iraq - including the discredited claim that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction which could be used within 45 minutes - are a long-standing source of controversy in Britain.
Former prime minister Tony Blair also subsequently tried to justify the war as being at the forefront of Britain’s war against terrorism.
Asked about Iraq's involvement with terrorists, the Foreign Office's former director of counter-proliferation Tim Dowse said the UK had looked at the matter "very carefully" but concluded "nothing that looked like a relationship between the Iraqis and al-Qaeda"..
Sir William Ehrman, the Foreign Office's former director general for defence and intelligence said it had discussed the issue with Washington which had put "more weight" on the claims.
"Our view was that there was no evidence to suggest serious collaboration of any sort between Iraq and al-Qaeda," Erdman also told the inquiry, which opened in London on Tuesday.
Addressing the overall threat posed by Iraq in 2001, the Foreign Office further said it was "not top of its list" of countries causing concern because of their stated desire to develop weapons of mass destruction.
With sanctions in place against Iraq, the UK government believed Saddam could not build a nuclear weapon and, even if sanctions were removed, it was estimated it would take him five years to do so.
As for biological and chemical weapons, Dowse confirmed that most evidence suggested Iraq's programme had largely been "destroyed" in 1991. But he also added that intelligence suggested Iraq was seeking to rebuild its capacity.
There were "unanswered questions" about Iraq’s actual capability, he said, while suggesting that its threat was viewed as "unique" from other "deliberate proliferators" because it had shown itself willing to use wmd on its own people and its neighbours.
Turning to the months leading up to the war, Erdman said Saddam was “black and he had to prove himself white” but failed to do so in providing a "full declaration" of Iraq's weapons capacity and to fully co-operate with UN weapons inspectors.
If Iraq had met these tests, the UK government might have taken a "different" view on what to do about Iraq, Dowse suggested. Giving inspectors more time to do their work, as called for by France and Russia, may have helped "diplomatically and politically", he said.
But defending the UK’s argument at the time, he said this would not have made any difference to the ultimate outcome without full Iraqi co-operation, which was not forthcoming.
The inquiry, which is questioning officials and military personnel before taking evidence from political leaders, including Blair, is expected to take about a year before it reports.
During questions in parliament Wednesday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown rejected claims by Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg that government departments would be able to veto parts of the final report.
Critics have also alleged that the findings cannot be fully independent as the inquiry is being led by a five-member panel appointed by the government.
2220**345**1412
End News / IRNA / News Code 811179
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
