Top Blair Aide Doubted Level of Iraq Threat

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030818/ts_nm/iraq_britain_scientist_dc&cid=564&ncid=1473

LONDON (Reuters) - The dossier on which British Prime Minister Tony Blair based his case for war against Iraq contained no proof of any threat from Baghdad, according to an e-mail from a top aide released on Monday.

The e-mail is the first public sign of questioning within Blair's inner circle about the strength of intelligence used to justify a war that most Britons opposed.

"The document does nothing to demonstrate a threat, let alone an imminent threat from (Iraqi President) Saddam (Hussein)," Blair's chief of staff and long-time confidant Jonathan Powell wrote to a senior intelligence official.

"It shows he has the means but it does not demonstrate he has the motive to attack his neighbors, let alone the West," Powell wrote in an e-mail one week before the controversial dossier was published on September 24, 2002, six months ahead of the U.S.-British invasion of Iraq.

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[David Zephyr]

1. Holy Mother of God!

Wow!

[ewagner]

2. No Executive Order

in Britian embargoing all correspondence. Wonder how many memos are floating around the WH that we will never see?

[samsingh]

3. why was Blair so adamant about this?

something is very puzzling here.