IRAQ CAN DESTROY US IN 45 MINUTES!!111! REALITY: UK officials JOKED about Iraq's imaginary WMDs

[ck4829]

Fresh evidence of scepticism among intelligence staff when the government "sexed up" its Iraqi weapons dossier before the 2003 invasion has been revealed in documents disclosed yesterday by the Cabinet Office.

Exchanges between officials, with their names removed, refer to "iffy drafting". One official notes a draft of the dossier stated that Iraq "has assembled specialists to work on its nuclear programme". The official adds: "Dr Frankenstein, I presume? Sorry, it's getting late ..."

Another email says: "We have suggested moderating the same language in much the same way on drafts from the dim and distant past without success. Feel free to try again!"

A memo reveals the pressures facing Sir John Scarlett, then head of the joint intelligence committee, now head of MI6. The memo, dated 11 September 2002, was sent to Scarlett by Desmond Bowen, a senior Ministry of Defence official seconded to the Cabinet Office.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/13/iraq-documents-cabinet-office

[arcadian]

1. Anybody who thought Iraq was a threat is a fucking coward.

Freepers, mostly.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. 1st problem with Hutton: He refused to understand what 'sexing up' means

and when the fundamental question he was asked to judge was "Was the BBC reporter's accusation that the dossier was 'sexed up' false?", that meant he was always going to find in the government's favour. Since he obstinately insisted "sexed up" meant nothing less than "contained known lies", he could always give the benefit of the doubt to the government.

Gilligan said his source, Kelly, said the dossier was 'sexed up'. While that wording was suggested by Gilligan, Kelly agreed. And these kind of memos confirm that. They all knew the politicians wanted as much lipstick as possible for their pig.

[Peace Patriot]

3. Thanks for mentioning David Kelly. I think he died for this lie, and possibly for knowing

other lies and/or of secret operations to falsify evidence (such as a plan to plant WMDs in Iraq after the invasion). Was he one of the targets of Cheney's assassination squad (that Sy Hersh recently mentioned), or did the Brits' kill one of their own?

I have always been intrigued by this timeline (in the midst of the US military 'hunt' for the non-existent WMDs in Iraq):

July 14, 2003: Valerie Plame outed (by Novak).

July 18, 2003: Kelly found dead, in highly suspicious circumstances; his office and computers searched.

July 22, 2003: Plame's entire Brewster-Jennings counter-proliferation network additionally outed (also by Novak).