Blair announces weapons intelligence probe

LONDON – British Prime Minister Tony Blair took a lead from the United States yesterday and announced a probe into whether flawed intelligence about Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction was used to justify the war to remove Saddam Hussein.

In a move attacked as a “spectacular U-turn” by his political opponents, Blair told senior lawmakers in parliament: “It is important that we learn intelligence lessons”. But the prime minister, who previously insisted that Iraq did possess banned weapons, said he had acted in good faith in joining the United States in invading Iraq last March.The inquiry, to be carried out across party political lines and led by a former head of Britain’s civil service, would report before July, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announced later.To a much greater extent than the US president, Blair — Bush’s staunchest international ally in the Iraq conflict — cited Saddam’s refusal to give up his alleged pursuit of prohibited weapons as the main reason for taking a sceptical Britain to war.However, Blair insisted Tuesday that his government had already been cleared by a separate inquiry last week of charges that it deliberately exaggerated intelligence.- Nampa-AFPBut the prime minister, who previously insisted that Iraq did possess banned weapons, said he had acted in good faith in joining the United States in invading Iraq last March. The inquiry, to be carried out across party political lines and led by a former head of Britain’s civil service, would report before July, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announced later. To a much greater extent than the US president, Blair — Bush’s staunchest international ally in the Iraq conflict — cited Saddam’s refusal to give up his alleged pursuit of prohibited weapons as the main reason for taking a sceptical Britain to war. However, Blair insisted Tuesday that his government had already been cleared by a separate inquiry last week of charges that it deliberately exaggerated intelligence. – Nampa-AFP