Australia orders independent inquiry into pre-Iraq war intelligence

CANBERRA - Australia ordered an independent inquiry on Monday into pre-Iraq war intelligence on the advice of a parliamentary report that found the threat of weapons of mass destruction may have been overstated.

Prime Minister John Howard, who sent 2,000 military personnel to Iraq, bowed to growing pressure to follow the United States and Britain and hold an independent inquiry to address concerns the threat of weapons was exaggerated to justify the war.

Almost a year after the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, no biological or chemical weapons have been found.

"We will follow the advice to have a former intelligence expert constitute the inquiry and the terms of reference will broadly reflect what was recommended," Howard told parliament.

A parliamentary committee that oversees Australian intelligence services said the conservative government was "more measured" than its alliance partners but had not always accurately portrayed the intelligence it received.

"The case made by the government was that Iraq possessed WMD in large quantities and posed a grave and unacceptable threat to the region and the world, particularly as there was a danger Iraq's WMD might be passed to terrorist organisation," it said.

"This is not the picture that emerges from an examination of all the assessments provided to the committee by Australia's two analytical agencies."

Committee chairman David Jull said Australian spy agencies were "more moderate and cautious" than US and British partners.

But while most Australian spy agencies said any WMD in Iraq were "small stocks", the Office of National Assessments, which advises Howard, was more ready to use untested intelligence to argue it was "highly likely" Iraq had WMD.

"Despite their caution, insofar as they thought there were any weapons of mass destruction left in Iraq, it is possible they overstated their case," Jull told parliament.

The report recommended a review of Australia's intelligence agencies, conducted by an experienced former intelligence expert with full access to all material available before the war.

Leader of the minor Greens party, Bob Brown, said the report showed Australians were misled by conservative Howard, who will be seeking a fourth term in office later this year.

But public opposition to the war has not had the same political impact in Australia as in the United States and Britain where credibility of both countries' leaders is on the line over possible flaws in intelligence.

The fact no Australian military personnel died during the Iraq war was also seen as a factor limiting public opposition.

"Rather than insist on corroboration of unsubstantiated reports about weapons of mass destruction, Howard embellished them to warnings of potential "mammoth" death and destruction if Saddam Hussein was not attacked," Brown said in a statement.

US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have set up independent inquiries into possible intelligence failings over Iraqi weapons.

London and Washington went to war in March last year, joined quickly by close ally Australia, after failing to secure a United Nations resolution authorising military action and ignoring pleas to give a UN team in Iraq more time to search for weapons.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq