News and Politics | February 19, 2008 | 2 comments

Revealed: the first draft of the dossier that took Britain to Iraq war

source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/revealed-the-first-draft-of-dossier-that-took-...

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The first draft of the official dossier that justified Britain's going to war in Iraq, which has been kept secret for the past three years, has been revealed by the government. According to this article, this gives "fresh evidence that the Iraq weapons dossier was "sexed up".... As expected, the earliest version of the document did not include the now notorious claim that Saddam Hussein could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes of an order to do so.
The first draft made a series of lurid claims about the extent and danger of the Iraqi president's weapons arsenal. But those were expressed in even stronger terms by September 2002, when the official dossier on which Tony Blair based the case for war was published."

How language was 'sexed up'

Williams draft: "[Iraq] is developing as a priority longer-range missile weapons capable of threatening Nato (Greece and Turkey?)."

Final version: "Iraq's military forces are able to use chemical and biological weapons... The Iraqi military are able to deploy these weapons within 45 minutes of a decision to do so."

Williams draft: "[Iraq] is testing the solid-propellant missile Ababil-100, and is making efforts to extend its range."

Final version: "[Iraq has] started producing the solid-propellant Ababil-100, and is making efforts to extend its range to at least 200km, which is beyond the limit of 150km imposed by the UN."

Williams draft: "[Iraq] has retained a dozen al-Hussein missiles, capable of carrying a chemical or biological warhead..."

Final version: "[Iraq has] illegally retained up to 20 al-Hussein missiles, with a range of 650km, capable of carrying chemical or biological warheads."

Williams draft: "[Iraq] is close to deploying its al-Samoud liquid propellant missile..."

Final version: "[Iraq has] started deploying its al-Samoud liquid propellant missile."

Spin is one thing... outright doctoring the facts is quite another. What do you think? And what are the consequences of this going to be??

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    News and Politics,   Politics,   Britain,   UK News
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    News and Politics,  Politics,  War,  Iraq War,  5 more
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2 comments // Revealed: the first draft of the dossier that took Britain to Iraq war

  • richjm
    • 0
      richjm  

    • Incredible reading.

      Social_Fuzz - have you seen this vlog? It echoes almost exactly your views on the anti-war march.

    • 4 years ago
  • Social_Fuzz
    • 0
      Social_Fuzz  

    • They have been lying since the war began. After 2 million of us marched against the unlawfull invasion, to no avail, people lost hope. For every one person who went to the march, it is reckoned 10 people were behind each supporter. They will not listen. Our tax's dont seem to talk. We are cogs that are used to keep the war machine running.

      We are being lied to every day. Manipulated by media conglomerates every day. Having less chance of a fair political process year by year.

      There will be no consequences other than the already eroding British sentiment towards the governments Americanised consumer capitalist way of thinking. That put business above all else. That includes the use of "small" wars for profit. (from an economic standpoint, and a business standpoint).

      Check "Disaster Capitalism"

    • 4 years ago
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