Blair pledged cooperation with probe into evidence of Iraq’s alleged WMDs

LONDON, June 4 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Amid mounting charges his government had embellished intelligence on Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion, British Prime Minister Tony Blair promised full cooperation with a relevant parliamentary inquiry by the intelligence and security committee (ISC), a leading British newspaper reported Wednesday, June 4.

Blair is expected to face a sustained onslaught from all sides of the House when he makes his first Commons appearance since Downing Street was first accused of exaggerating intelligence claims about Iraq’s weapons program, The Financial Times reported.

The ISC, a cross-party group of nine MPs chaired by Labor’s Ann Taylor, will examine charges that British officials had cooked up intelligence to strengthen the case for war against Iraq.

But many members of parliament are dissatisfied with that proposal, as the ISC meets behind closed doors and ironically reports to the prime minister, not parliament.

More than 50 Labor MPs have signed a Commons motion demanding publication of the full government evidence on Iraqi weapons.

Other Labor backbenchers said it was premature to draw conclusions.

Iain Duncan Smith, who as Conservative leader supported the Iraq conflict, stopped short of calling for an independent inquiry, the daily said.

But, in a letter to the prime minister Tuesday, June 3, he urged Blair to answer comprehensively the charges as the credibility of the U.S. president and his staunchest ally Blair appears to be at stake.

However, Blair's co-operation with the ISC is unlikely to go far enough to appease backbench Labor rebels - including former ministers Clare Short and Robin Cook - and the Liberal Democrats, who are demanding a fully independent inquiry into the government's claim that Iraq possessed WMD that could be deployed within 45 minutes, the daily added.

Short said Sunday, June 1, that Blair had duped the public over the threat posed by the ousted Iraqi regime in order to ensure the invasion.

"I have concluded that the PM decided to go to war in August sometime and he duped us all along," she said.

Commenting on the matter, Leader of the House John Reid, a close friend to Blair, upped the ante Wednesday when he told the Times newspaper that "rogue elements in the intelligence services" were behind the charges.

"I find it hard to grasp why this should be believed against the word of the prime minister... This is getting ridiculous," Reid claimed.

Another Blow

On Tuesday, the House of Commons foreign affairs committee dealt another blow to Blair when it decided to launch a separate inquiry that would hear evidence in public.

Foreign Affairs Committee hearings are normally held in public and its reports are published on the contrary to the ISC committee.

"We are a different animal to the Intelligence and Security Committee. There would be a credibility problem with them which there would not be with our inquiry," stressed Foreign Affairs committee chairman, Donald Anderson.

Anderson's committee plans to take oral evidence from witnesses in June and publish a report in July, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

No witness list has yet been drawn up, but Anderson said the committee may invite Blair, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and serving intelligence officers.

"The obvious concern we would be addressing is the quality of intelligence material and the use of that material," he said.

Anderson hoped the investigation would satisfy those deputies, including Cook, who have been calling for a probe.

"The inquiry will consider whether the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, within the government as a whole, presented accurate and complete information to parliament in the period leading up to military action in Iraq, particularly in relation to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction," said the committee setting out its aims.

No WMD Found

In a related development, U.S. and British troops searching for Iraq’s alleged weapons have searched 87 "prime" sites and have found nothing, the Mirror reported.

Nineteen were "highest-priority" zones identified by the U.S. Central Command, said the paper.

But instead of chemical or biological weapons, searchers uncovered a training facility for Iraq's Olympic swimming and diving teams, a drinks distillery and a factory making car license plates, the British daily said.

A 100-strong team of British military specialists will now join a new American-led hunt for weapons evidence, after the apparent failure of the current search.

The 87 sites given the all-clear were targeted by the U.S.-led forces, acting on specific intelligence reports. A military source said: "They found precisely nothing."

The searchers were from the 200-strong, mainly U.S. 75th Exploitation Group - made up of military personnel, the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the FBI, and a British contingent.

Lieutenant General James T. Conway, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said: "It's not for lack of trying. We’ve been to virtually every ammunition supply point between the Kuwaiti border and Baghdad, but they're simply not there."