How Clare Short lit the Iraqi fuse for BBC

London Times | January 27, 2004 | Dominic Kennedy

[ejdrapes]

How Clare Short lit the Iraqi fuse for BBC

CLARE SHORT emerges today as an inspiration behind a BBC report that Downing Street "sexed up" a dossier about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction before last year's invasion.

Hours before Andrew Gilligans fateful May 29 broadcast on the Radio 4 Today programme, the former minister met the programme's editor and complained about Alastair Campbell editing intelligence.

Her words helped to persuade the programme to believe Mr Gilligan's apparent scoop: that Downing Street inserted a claim, against the wishes of experts, that Iraq could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes.

Ms Short's role is described in a statement prepared by Kevin Marsh, the Today programme editor, for Lord Huttons inquiry. The statement was never submitted because Mr Marsh was not called as a witness.

Mr Marsh met Ms Short for lunch on May 28, soon after she resigned as International Development Secretary, citing Britains failure to give the UN a leading role in post-war Iraq. She told him that no intelligence had been produced which conclusively demonstrated that Iraq was an imminent threat. It was her firm belief that, since September 2002, policy had driven intelligence.

She was also critical of Mr Campbell's role in leading the editorial process of selecting and presenting intelligence to the public.

Ms Short later went public with some of these views, but the fact that a member of Tony Blairs War Cabinet felt so strongly would have come as a surprise to Mr Marsh.

Ms Short has confirmed his recollection: "Kevin Marshs written evidence to Hutton deals with our meeting and I am happy to stand by that evidence," she said.

Mr Gilligan "came in" with his story about the "sexed-up" dossier "just" after this lunch between his editor and Ms Short, according to a BBC insider. Mr Gilligan had met David Kelly, the weapons expert, six days earlier but did not immediately report his concerns on the radio.

Mr Marsh's statement is also understood to provide an account of a lunch given by Sir Richard Dearlove, the MI6 chief, two days after the fall of Baghdad. Since the MI6 chief spoke on condition of anonymity, it is understood that he is described only as a "very senior intelligence source".

There is some frustration at the BBC that the corporation was unable to mention this lunch in the Hutton inquiry.

An insider said: "It was unfortunate we couldnt say this ... The trouble was that (the Kelly affair) was about protecting sources."

Sir Richard and two Secret Intelligence Service colleaguesbriefed Today on April 11. Mr Marsh is said to have left his lunch with the clear impression that Sir Richards analysis of the intelligence did not justify war at that time. The words apparently attributed to Sir Richard are:

"The biggest threats to world security are weapons of mass destruction and Islamic terrorism. When these two come together you have a particular potential crisis."

"On any Cartesian analysis, Iraq does not emerge as the priority. Syria and Iran are the priorities."

Mr Marsh interpreted Sir Richards words as meaning that MI6 was admitting the intelligence did not support the case for war against Iraq. However, it is not Sir Richards role to reach such conclusions, which are left to the judgment of politicians.

Mr Marsh is understood to have indicated that his MI6 sources believed hard evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq would never be found. This, it is said, struck him as an odd conclusion if, at the time the September dossier was published, these weapons were being held at 45 minutes' readiness.

Mr Marsh let the BBC know that, in his subsequent contacts with MI6, no other interpretation of the meeting with Sir Richard was put forward.

Although neither Ms Short nor MI6 mentioned the 45-minute claim or accused the Government of knowing the dossier was wrong, their lunches encouraged Today to believe Mr Gilligan.

[witnesstothefall]

Thanks for posting this. Bump....