Just to Rub It In, Once More

Evidence shows no case for Iraq war

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's case for attacking Iraq has been dealt a new blow with the release of once-secret evidence from a former British diplomat who dismissed the threat of weapons of mass destruction.

Carne Ross, who was responsible for handling Britain's Iraq policy at the United Nations from 1998 to 2002, accused the British government of overstating the danger posed by Saddam Hussein's regime to support the invasion.

"During my posting, at no time did HMG [her majesty's government] assess that Iraq's WMD (or any other capability) posed a threat to the UK or its interests," Mr Ross wrote in evidence submitted to the Butler inquiry in June 2004.

"It was the commonly held view among the officials dealing with Iraq that any threat had been effectively contained." Mr Ross said when the United States raised the topic of regime change.

He and others would argue against such a move, "primarily on the grounds that Iraq would collapse into chaos", he said in written testimony given to an inquiry into the run-up to the March 2003 conflict.

"With the exception of some unaccounted-for Scud missiles, there was no intelligence evidence of significant holdings of CW [chemical weapons], BW [biological weapons] or nuclear material," the official said.

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