LIARS OR FOOLS?
UK renegade broadsheet The Independent has maintained a vigilant & outspoken watching brief on the British government's increasingly beleaguered position on WMD. A long series of forthright, well-researched, well-presented articles provides us with a sobering picture of an administration that started off dancing & now finds itself stepping on its own feet.
In a feature headed '20 Lies about the War', the by-line kicks off a savage indictment thus: 'Falsehoods ranging from exaggeration to plain untruth were used to make the case for war. More lies are being used in the aftermath'. Here they are.
1. Iraq was responsible for the 11 September attacks. Swift reversal of original claims by Czech intelligence didn't stop British & American assertions of a link.
2. Iraq & al-Qa'ida were working together. Only a leaked British Defence Intelligence report expressly denying a link finally shut mouths in high places in the UK & USA.
3. Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa. Both the head of the CIA & President Bush have finally denied the veracity of this claim. Blair, brush in hand, remains defiantly isolated in the corner surrounded by paint, still asserting its truth.
4. Iraq was trying to import aluminium tubes to develop nuclear weapons. Insistence by the International Atomic Energy Agency that the aluminium was for the development of artillery rockets & that the metal was unsuitable for gas centrifuges were ignored by loud voices in the White House.
5. Iraq still had vast stocks of chemical & biological weapons from the first Gulf War. Enough materials existed to kill the whole world population & pilotless aircraft with spraying facilities were ready to be smuggled into the USA. These assertions survived arguments indicating that Iraq's weapons only had a shelf life of 12 years, the time between the two wars.
6. Iraq had up to 20 missiles with sufficient range to attack chemically &/or biologically British troops in Cyprus. This claim was made on no substantive evidence at all. But still the story ran.
7. Iraq had the capacity to develop smallpox as a weapon. This claim from Colin Powell was denied by the UN & not repeated by the US.
8. The US & UK government's claimed support for their claims from Hans Blix. Blix has denied any such claim, now expressing profound doubt in the presence of WMD in Iraq.
9. Previous weapons inspections had failed. Blair spun accounts of weapons inspections so as to discredit their efficacy. A UN panel concluded in 1999 that most of any WMD development programmes had been discontinued.
10. Iraq was obstructing the inspectors. This loudly repeated claim paralleled quieter UN reports of cooperation. Indeed, 400 inspections covering more than 300 sites had gone ahead unhindered.
11. Iraq could deploy WMD in 45 minutes. This now notorious claim - still being adhered to by Tony Blair - was, in fact, undermined by Blair himself in April when he stated that Iraq had begun to conceal its weapons in May 2002, thus massively inhibiting their readiness.
12. The 'dodgy' intelligence dossier. This much-vaunted document was compiled not from intelligence sources but from 3 Internet articles. Although a somewhat blurred apology was issued, its substance still forms part of the government's case for WMD.
13. The war would be a walkover. Smug reassurances from high level government sources immediately preceded the invasion. The killing continues.
14. Umm Qasr was captured easily. The announcement of its collapse preceded the fact.
15. The people of Basra rose up against Saddam. This triumphant claim continued to be made during the coalition's dogged attempts to subdue resistance from the people of Basra.
16. The rescue of Private Jessica Lynch. Injuries supposedly sustained in a firefight with Iraqis, ending only when her ammunition ran out, were in fact the result of a vehicle crash. Local medical staff trying to rush her to US troops after the Iraqi retreat had to turn back after the troops fired on them.
17. Troops would have to face chemical & biological weapons. Intelligence reports to this effect were found to be entirely incorrect & without foundation.
18. Interrogation of scientists would reveal the whereabouts of WMD. Blair had 'absolutely no doubt' that this would be the case. It hasn't been.
19. Iraq's oil money would go to Iraqis. It hasn't. It's being controlled by a Blair-supported Security Council resolution that has given complete control to the US & UK.
20. Some WMD would be found. A string of false claims have been made, the last referring to the discovery of specially equipped trucks. It is now believed that these trucks were for the production of hydrogen for weather balloons.
If lies, unforgivable. If stupidity, horrifying. History will decide & condemn accordingly.
1:11:09 AM 
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