Claims on Iraq spy sources 'a nonsense'

LONDON - Britain's former spy chief has misled the Iraq inquiry by exaggerating the reliability of crucial claims about Saddam Hussein's ability to launch weapons of mass destruction, says the leading Ministry of Defence expert who assessed the intelligence behind the decision to go to war.

Sir John Scarlett, who was responsible for drafting the Government's controversial 2002 dossier outlining the case for invading Iraq, claimed last week that intelligence indicating Iraq possessed missiles that could be launched within 45 minutes was "reliable and authoritative".

But Scarlett's evidence is contradicted by the most senior WMD analyst who saw the original intelligence. Dr Brian Jones said that it was vague, inconclusive and unreliable.

Jones, who was head of the nuclear, chemical and biological branch of the Defence Intelligence Staff in the run-up to the invasion, said it was "absolutely clear" the intelligence the Government relied upon was from untried sources.

The 45-minute claim was one of the key assertions that convinced MPs to take Britain to war.

"Having said there was the intelligence to show Iraq had WMD, there was no indication in what [Scarlett] said about what is now very well known, that those additional pieces of new intelligence were all caveated," said Jones. "Information was coming from untried sources - that is absolutely clear."

Jones said Scarlett crucially misled the inquiry about the source of the information.

"The description Scarlett gave for the secondary source, who passed the information on, was 'reliable and authoritative' ... If he is passing on information from someone who has never reported before then that is a nonsense."

All witnesses to the Iraq inquiry, led by Sir John Chilcot, are made to sign a written transcript of their evidence, declaring that it is "truthful, fair and accurate".

Scarlett will be interviewed again next year by the inquiry team, although the current plan is to question him in private.

Scarlett was the head of the Government's Joint Intelligence Committee when he oversaw the drafting of the September 2002 dossier.

Despite the controversy, he was promoted by Prime Minister Tony Blair to become the head of MI6 in 2004.

Although the subsequent Butler review of intelligence concluded the dossier had been "flawed", Scarlett was awarded a knighthood by Blair in 2007. He retired from MI6 this year.

Jones' comments will add to the pressure on Blair before the former Prime Minister's expected appearance before the Chilcot panel next month.

- INDEPENDENT