The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
The
Government believes it important that we should divulge as much
information
to the
public as we can without prejudicing sensitive sources, including
intelligence
reporting.
It has been the practice of successive governments not to comment
on
intelligence
matters.”193
446.
In an
interview with Mr David Frost on BBC
Television’s
Breakfast with
Frost on
21 April,
primarily about the Budget, Mr Blair was asked about the
imminence of military
action
against Iraq (see Section 3.3).194
447.
In response to
a suggestion that the dossier on Iraq had been stopped because
it
was out of
date because there hadn’t been any decent intelligence for two or
three years
or because
it was insufficient to convince critics within the Labour Party,
Mr Blair replied:
“… it
wasn’t pulled … we will publish it at the appropriate time and when
that’s going
to be I
simply don’t know … The evidence of Saddam Hussein on weapons of
mass
destruction
is vast.
“… [W]hat
we also know from our experience of September 11 that it’s sensible
to try
to deal
with these threats before they become fully operational rather than
after.”
448.
Revised
estimates of material which UNSCOM had been unable to
account
for when it
left Iraq in December 1998 were published on 2 May.
449.
Mr Straw
was advised that the figures were an extrapolation based
on
UNSCOM
data, but it was “inherently difficult to arrive at precise
figures”.
450.
Mr Ricketts
asked Mr Dowse on 22 March to “take forward work with
the
Assessments
Staff” on the new figures provided by the DIS for “Iraqi stocks of
CW
precursors
and munitions” which should, “if possible”, be the same as those
being
used by
the US.195
Ministers
would then need to be advised:
“… how best
to get them into the public domain before any comprehensive
paper
is
published: probably by inspired PQ as soon as Parliament
re-assembles, making
clear that
these are revised estimates.”
451.
Mr Dowse
wrote to Mr Miller on 25 March “to sort out how we manage the
DIS’
new
calculations of unaccounted-for Iraqi CW precursors and
munitions”.196
193
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 16 April
2002, columns 861-862W.
194
BBC
News, 21 April
2002, BBC
Breakfast with Frost Interview: Prime Minister Tony
Blair.
195
Minute
Ricketts to Patey, 22 March 2002, ‘Iraq: Preparing Material for
Public Release’.
196
Letter
Dowse to Miller, 25 March 2002, ‘Iraq: Material for Public
Release’.
94