British Government Cleared of “Sexing up” Dossier

The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) in charge of investigating claims that the British government embellished details in its Iraq dossier to strengthen its case for war, has said that the government report on Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction had not been deliberately “sexed up” by former Director of Communications Alistair Campbell or “anyone else.”

Thursday's announcement marked the second time in recent months the government has been exonerated of any wrong-doing in the management of the Iraq dossier. Back in July, a House of Commons committee cleared the governement of misleading the public in the run up to the war in Iraq.

The ISC said on Thursday that the dossier, which formed the government’s cornerstone argument for taking military action against Iraq, had not been exaggerated. Still, the committee criticized 10 Downing Street for its inclusion of the claim that Saddam Hussein could fire banned chemical and biological weapons at 45 minutes notice, which it said was “unhelpful and potentially misleading.”

Although the committee all but cleared the government of deliberate manipulation of the facts included in the Iraq report, it maintained that its claims in the September 2002 dossier did not give a “balanced view.”

Statement lacked context

“The 45 minutes claim, included four times, was always likely to attract attention because it was arresting detail that the public had not seen before,” the report said. “As the 45 minutes claim was new to its readers, context of the intelligence and any assessment needed to be explained,” the ISC statement read.

It added: “The fact that it was assessed to refer to battlefield chemical and biological munitions and their movement on the battlefield, not to any other form of chemical or biological attack, should have been highlighted in the dossier. The omission of the context and the assessment allowed speculation as to its exact meaning. This was unhelpful to an understanding of the issue.”

The ISC, made up of ministers from the governing Labor Party, the Conservative opposition and the Liberal Party, laid the blame for the misleading information firmly at the door of the Ministry of Defense and its chief, Geoff Hoon, who was criticized for not disclosing full details of his staff's concerns over the dossier.

Hoon accused of misleading

Hoon has been accused of misleading the first session of the committee’s hearing in July by not revealing the feelings of those in the Defense Ministry who were uncomfortable about the inclusion of the disputed 45 minute claim. Committee Chairwoman Ann Taylor told reporters Hoon was "potentially misleading" in his evidence in July but that he did not lie to the committee.

“He did not tell us lies,” she told the BBC. “It was potentially misleading, events overtook it. ... We got the information in the end. It is speculative (to ask) what might have happened.”

Hoon responded by addressing the House of Commons on Thursday, telling parliament that he had no intention of being anything other than “open and straightforward” with the committee and that he regretted any misunderstanding that might have arisen. “I hope the committee accepts that I did not in fact mislead them,” he said.

Calls for Defense Minister to resign

His statement failed to convince the head of the opposition, Iain Duncan Smith, who once again called on Hoon to resign. The Conservative leader, who had already raised the subject of Hoon stepping down over his department’s involvement in the scandal surrounding the apparent suicide of weapons expert Dr. David Kelly, addressed parliament, saying: “Geoff Hoon has got to go, I'm afraid. Either he should resign or the prime minister should dismiss him at once.”

“I think this report is a damning report of the secretary of state (for defense). The committee has accused him of misleading and withholding information. ... My concern right now is that we have troops in Iraq whose lives are at risk under the authority of the secretary of state.”

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw defended his colleague when he addressed reporters following the publication of the committee’s report: "I'm in no doubt the defense secretary should and will continue in his post. He has every confidence of the prime minister."

Ministry of Defense faces further scrutiny

The Ministry of Defense is currently also under pressure from a further inquiry, headed by appeals judge, Lord Hutton. The Hutton Inquiry surrounds the suicide of Dr. Kelly and the alleged link to claims by the BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan that the government knew that information in the Iraq dossier to be false. Dr. Kelly was named as the source of Gilligan’s claims on July 9, nine days before his body was found.