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Those who flung accusations of "liar" at President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair last summer over the causes of the war with Iraq surely owe the two men an apology. It is, of course, pretty hard to imagine the word "sorry" would ever cross their lips, but if we live in a world where right and wrong mean something, the accusers should eat their words. Tomorrow, the long-awaited report of the September 11 commission will see the light of day. It follows on the heels of the Senate intelligence report and the so-called Butler report published in London,...

At this point, we have four independent sources that say there was no lying by President Bush and British Prime Minister Blair regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The 9/11 Commission, the Senate Intelligence Committee, Lord Butler's British investigation and Vladimir Putin have all stated that the WMD intelligence was faulty, but the politicians did nothing untoward. So what should be done with the people who accused Bush and Blair of intentionally lying to bring war to the world? Have you heard any of these folks apologize for their slander? I haven't. And let's take the issue one step...

Tony Blair was quite right yesterday to say that it was "absurd" to claim that anyone reading the prewar intelligence reports could think that Iraq's weapons were not a problem. Last week, Lord Butler said in his important report there was no evidence of "deliberate distortion or culpable negligence" by the government. But he was critical of the way some intelligence was presented and that caveats had been omitted. In many cases, Butler was supportive. For example, he concluded that the assertion that Iraq had been trying to obtain uranium from an African country, Niger, was "well founded".

Inquiry into British WMD intelligence watered down to protect Blair: report LONDON (AFP) - Last week's damning report into British intelligence failures ahead of the Iraq war was amended at the last minute to make it less critical of Prime Minister Tony Blair, a report said. The changes were argued for by Downing Street, and helped Blair rebut the principal charge that he had shown bad faith in arguing that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) made war necessary, the Sunday Telegraph said. The report, issued on Wednesday by an inquiry team headed by former top civil servant Lord Butler,...

MEMORANDUM TO: OPINION LEADERSFROM: GARY SCHMITTSUBJECT: Iraq's Attempts to Acquire Uranium from NigerIn his 2003 State of the Union speech, President Bush said "the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Since then, this statement has been criticized by Former Ambassador Joe Wilson and others as relying on flimsy or non-existent intelligence. Today, however, the British government released a report titled "Review of Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction,"* which, on page 125 (paragraph 503), states: "From our examination of the intelligence and other material on Iraqi attempts to buy uranium from...

While the intelligence on Iraq's weapons capabilities was seriously flawed, the arguments for going to war were sound, writes Tony Parkinson. Many months of investigation into the pre-war intelligence assessments of Iraq's weapons programs, helped along by large dollops of hindsight, have established beyond doubt that lamentable failures occurred. The reports of two exhaustive official inquiries in the United States and Britain have exposed the paucity of hard-and-fast knowledge among Western intelligence agencies about Saddam Hussein's biological and chemical weapons capabilities at the time of invasion in March 2003. On this basis, it is clear that the intelligence community, in...

AN official British inquiry yesterday lambasted the state of pre-war intelligence on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. But the inquiry found Prime Minister Tony Blair had not deliberately misled the nation into going to war. Mr Blair immediately accepted responsibility for any mistakes, but insisted the US-led war to remove Iraqi president Saddam Hussein last year had been justified. "Iraq, the region, the wider world is a better and safer place without Saddam," he said. Mr Blair said that while it seemed "increasingly clear" Saddam might not have had weapons of mass destruction ready to deploy before the war,...

The British government yesterday bolstered President Bush's assertion that Iraq sought uranium from Niger, casting further doubt on former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV's claims to the contrary.     The conclusion was reached by Robin Butler, who once was Britain's top civil servant, in a major report on prewar intelligence that came five days after the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence reached a similar conclusion in its report.     Taken together, the British and U.S. reports appear to undermine Mr. Wilson's criticism of Mr. Bush, which led to a criminal investigation of the White House and made the retired diplomat a media...

A British government report made public yesterday provides new information showing that al Qaeda terrorists had contacts with Iraqi intelligence in developing chemical arms and that the group worked with a Pakistani nuclear weapons scientist.     The special report by former top civil servant Robin Butler on British prewar intelligence found gaps in reporting on Iraq's weapons and also disclosed new details of terrorist activities of al Qaeda associate Abu Musab Zarqawi, who is leading attacks in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.     On al Qaeda's efforts to obtain nuclear arms, the report stated that Osama bin Laden set up a laboratory in Afghanistan...

At-a-glance: Butler report Lord Butler's inquiry has published its verdict on the intelligence used to justify the war against Iraq. Here are the main points. The reliability of intelligence Doubt has been cast on a "high proportion" of human intelligence sources - and so on the quality of intelligence assessments given to ministers and officials The problems were partly caused by weaknesses in the way MI6 carried out its checks on sources There was third hand reporting of information about Iraqi chemical and biological weapons -with a sub-source reporting to a second MI6 main source One MI6 source reported authoritatively...

MI6 blunders recall fiasco of Falklands Pressure from government undermined 'neutral and objective assessment' of Iraq threat Richard Norton-Taylor Thursday July 15, 2004 The Guardian MI6 was coming to terms last night with the exposure of the biggest failure of intelligence since Argentina's invasion of the Falklands in 1982. This time, its problems were compounded by pressure on intelligence officials to remove what caveats there were in the government's determination to produce a dossier to support its increasingly tough line on Iraq. "Language in the dossier, and used by the prime minister, may have left readers with the impression that...

British intelligence on Iraq's weapons capabilities was "seriously flawed," but there is no evidence to suggest that Prime Minister Tony Blair deliberately misled the public to make a case for war, an official inquiry has found. ... But compared with the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee's findings last week on the CIA's shortcomings, Britain's intelligence services were let off lightly by Butler. ... It did, however, back a British intelligence finding - now rejected by the U.S. - that Iraq tried to purchase "yellow cake" uranium from the African country of Niger, and also from Congo. Blair, in his remarks to...

THE BUTLER REPORT [Jonah Goldberg] No wonder Joe Wilson won't give TV interviews. You can download it here . And here's a summary Here are two snippets worth highlighting: We conclude that, on the basis of the intelligence assessments at the time, covering both Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the statements on Iraqi attempts to buy uranium from Africa in the government's dossier, and by extension the prime minister in the House of Commons, were well founded. By extension, we conclude also that the statement in President Bush's state of the union address of 2003 that "the British...

No 10 cleared on Iraq legal advice Butler report expected to say Downing Street did not lean on attorney general in run-up to war Nicholas Watt, political correspondent Tuesday July 13, 2004 The Guardian Downing Street is likely to be cleared of a damning accusation at the heart of the Iraq war - that senior figures leant on the attorney general to change his legal advice at the 11th hour to sanction the conflict. As No 10 announced that Tony Blair will be handed a copy of the Butler review into intelligence failings today, a consensus emerged at Whitehall last...

Excerpts of conclusions in Lord Butler's report on the government's use of intelligence on Iraqi weapons: "From our examination of the intelligence and other material on Iraqi attempts to buy uranium from Africa, we have concluded that: "a. It is accepted by all parties that Iraqi officials visited Niger in 1999. "b. The British Government had intelligence from several different sources indicating that this visit was for the purpose of acquiring uranium. Since uranium constitutes almost three-quarters of Niger's exports, the intelligence was credible. "c. The evidence was not conclusive that Iraq actually purchased, as opposed to having sought, uranium...

LONDON - Iraq had no stockpiles of useable chemical or biological weapons before the war, and British intelligence relied in part on "seriously flawed" or "unreliable" sources in deciding to join the U.S.-attack to oust Saddam Hussein, an official inquiry reported Wednesday. Prime Minister Tony Blair accepted the report's findings and took "personal responsibility," although his government was absolved of "deliberate distortion or culpable negligence." "I have to accept, as the months have passed, it seems increasingly clear that at the time of invasion Saddam did not have stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons ready to deploy," Blair told the...

Britain to issue report on Iraqi WMD intelligence www.chinaview.cn 2004-07-14 09:46:33 LONDON, July 14 (Xinhuanet) -- A report on the role of the British intelligence in the investigation of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the run-up to the war with Iraq will be officially published on Wednesday. Lord Butler will publish his report at a news conference at 1230 BST (1130 GMT) on Wednesday, with British Prime Minister Tony Blair addressing the House of Commons on the issue at about 1330 BST (1230 GMT). Local media widely agree it will be a "difficult and testing time" for...