[A-List] UK state: Iraq crisis

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Pressure grows on Blair as Bush orders an inquiry into WMD
MICHAEL SETTLE, Chief Political Correspondent
The Herald, February 02 2004

GEORGE W Bush is to announce an independent inquiry into apparent flaws in
the intelligence used to justify the Iraq war, a move which increases the
pressure on Tony Blair to do the same.

The US president had previously opposed such a commission over weapons of
mass destruction.

His U-turn will bolster those calling for an independent inquiry in Britain.

Michael Howard, the Conservative leader, will today table a Commons motion
demanding the inquiry. The Liberal Democrats have supported the call. Sir
Menzies Campbell, the LibDem foreign affairs spokesman, said: "This will put
yet more pressure on the British government.

"Washington is now dictating the British political agenda. The government's
satisfaction at the Hutton Report may well be shortlived."

Mr Bush's decision has left the prime minister in an isolated position as he
prepares to be questioned by MPs tomorrow, when he appears before the
Commons liaison committee. They will ask him: "Are you the last person to
believe the intelligence on WMD?"

Pressure has been mounting on both sides of the Atlantic since David Kay,
the American heading the weapons hunt quit, saying intelligence suggesting
Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons was wrong.

A senior officials in the Bush administration said: "The president wants a
broad, bipartisan and independent review of our intelligence, particularly
relating to weapons of mass destruction and counter-proliferation efforts."

The Democrats have de-manded that the commission report back at the end of
this year. However, it is expected to be given until the end of next year to
complete its investigation, ensuring that the result will not interfere with
the president's re-election bid in November.

About nine members are expected to be picked for the commission. Some will
be experts outside the government, while others could be members of
Congress. They will include both Repub-licans and Democrats.

Mr Kay, after he resigned as head of the Iraq Survey Group (ISG), told a
congressional panel that "we were almost all wrong" in assuming that Iraq
had illicit weapons. Yesterday, on Fox TV, he went further, suggesting that
"flawed intelligence" had seriously undermined the case for going to war.

"If you cannot rely on good, accurate intelligence that is credible to the
American people and to others abroad, you certainly cannot have a policy of
pre-emption," he said.

The UK government has so far resisted pressure for an inquiry and has been
holding out for the final report from the ISG, due later this year. It has
spent months vainly searching for Saddam's elusive stockpiles of chemical,
biological, and nuclear weapons.

Speaking before it was revealed that the president had agreed to an
investigation, Lord Falconer, the lord chancellor, rejected the need for a
UK one.

Peter Hain, leader of the House of Commons, said he and other cabinet
members had seen proof Saddam had chemical and biological weapons. He also
said weapons inspectors had uncovered evidence of WMD programmes, secret
laboratories and "chemical and biological weapons ventures".

"I saw evidence that was categoric on Saddam possessing chemical and
biological weapons of mass destruction," he told the BBC. "I saw that
intelligence evidence, so did the prime minister, so did other Cabinet
ministers. That in-formed our decision to go to topple him. I think we were
right in doing so."

Charles Kennedy, the LibDem leader, said there was a "mounting clamour" for
a "searching examination into the entire basis upon which this government
took us into war".

A No 10 spokesman said Mr Blair "believes the intelligence was right", but
accepted "we need an explanation" about why actual weapons have not been
found. But the spokes-man stressed: "We need to wait for the Iraq Survey
Group to carry out its work."

However, Robin Cook, Labour's former foreign secretary, called on GMTV for
an end to the government's "undignified and embarrassing" refusal to admit
the intelligence on WMD was wrong.