October 13, 2004

The "45 minutes" claim was false Well, not a big surprise or anything, I guess. But it did have some rather large ramifications at the time.

Tony Blair's claim that Iraq was within 45 minutes of launching weapons of mass destruction - a central plank of his case for war - fell apart yesterday as the Foreign Secretary formally withdrew the infamous claim and revealed MI6 had abandoned its source for the bogus intelligence.

posted by Wolof 20 years ago
  • What, you mean it wasn't true? Phew. Jolly good thing we sorted that out before anybody got hurt.
  • Say nostril, you might be onto something there. *grins
  • So, when is somebody's ass gonna go before the bar for trial? I mean, saying "mistakes happen" is all well and good, but but larger than usual mistakes demand larger than usual consequences. I really hope that, if elected, Kerry doesn't do something stupid like issue blanket pardons to anyone in the Bush administration, so we can at least hold out the hope of putting Bushco in front of a judge and jury.
  • C'mon, Blair isn't to blame. Look, when Andrew Gilligan made a tiny claim at 6am in the morning, that the dossier was sexed-up and that the government probably knew the claims in it weren't true, it was right that two senior members of the BBC and that reporter lost their jobs (one of the govenors who refused to back Greg Dyke profits from a defence company she's involved in when there are wars and has substantive ties to Blair). When Blair produces a litany of distortions, claiming intelligence was substantial and authoratative, when he was told the intel was insubstantial and shaky, despite the fact that thousands of people have died as a direct result of his deceptions, he should stay. He shouldn't appologise (and hasn't), and he should stay in his job, along with John Scarlett (promotion!) and Geoff Hoon (Defence secretary). Why, though, when there's clearly a case of double standards? Because selfishly clinging to power for your own ends, regardless of the cost, without principles, ethics or honour, means never having to say sorry. Leaked British cabinet documents - Evidence of false statements made by Tony Blair to Parliament and the media.
  • I wonder when New Labour is finally given the boot if the Right Honourable Tony Blair will be burned in effigy across the land...
  • Honestly. You people. Don't you understand that Tony is sincere, a man of deep personal conviction... that all he wants is for us to trust him? Especially on that stuff about Saddam's flock of poisonous lesbian killer space robots. (But no, Labour aren't going to be kicked out any time soon...)