[Article] Intelligence chief: 'We were overruled on dossier'

shotamoose

From today's [UK] Independent

The intelligence official whose revelations stunned the Hutton inquiry has suggested that not a single defence intelligence expert backed Tony Blair's most contentious claims on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

As Mr Blair set up an inquiry yesterday into intelligence failures before the war, Brian Jones, the former leading expert on WMD in the Ministry of Defence, declared that Downing Street's dossier, a key plank in convincing the public of the case for war, was "misleading" on Saddam Hussein's chemical and biological capability. Writing in today's Independent, Dr Jones, who was head of the nuclear, chemical and biological branch of the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) until he retired last year, reveals that the experts failed in their efforts to have their views reflected.

Dr Jones, who is expected to be a key witness at the new inquiry, says: "In my view, the expert intelligence analysts of the DIS were overruled in the preparation of the dossier in September 2002, resulting in a presentation that was misleading about Iraq's capabilities."

Jones seems to be saying that his line manager declined to bring the concerns of the DIS staff to John Scarlett, head of the Joint Intelligence Committee, which meant that the necessary caveats weren't included in the intelligence assessment. Then when Alistair Campbell and other No. 10 heads intervened to remove what little ambiguity there was left, Scarlett folded faster than Superman on laundry day. At the very least this exposes severe flaws in the communications system between intelligence, officialdom and politicians.

Jones's full article is here