4.2 |
Iraq WMD assessments, July to September 2002
•
“added a
short conclusions table – not sure this adds a lot to the
Executive
463.
Mr Pruce
summarised:
“The
re-organised material paints a more convincing picture, but the
facts remain
thin on
nuclear”.
464.
Mr Campbell
sent Mr Scarlett his and Mr Blair’s comments on the draft
dossier
465.
Mr Campbell
wrote that Mr Blair thought it was “a very good job and it
was
convincing”,
but had a number of comments. These included that
Mr Blair:
•
thought the
chapter on the current position on Iraq’s chemical, biological,
nuclear
and
ballistic missile programmes “should be re-ordered, to build
towards the
conclusion
through detail”;
•
“like me,
was worried about the way you have expressed the nuclear
issue
… Can we
not go back … to ‘radiological device’ in months; nuclear bomb
in
1-2 years
with help; 5 years with no sanctions”;
•
“thought we
should make more of the ‘no civil nuclear’ point, and list
dual-use
products”;
and
•
“felt we
don’t do enough on human rights”.
466.
Mr Campbell’s
own comments included:
•
“… we
should make more of the point about current
concealment
plans.”
•
The
Executive Summary “would be stronger if we said that despite
sanctions
and the
policy of containment, he [Saddam Hussein] has made real
progress”.
•
The
statement that Saddam’s sons “may have” the authority to use
chemical and
biological
weapons in the text was weaker than the statement in the
Summary
that they
had that authority.
•
“Can we say
that he [Saddam] has secured uranium from Africa?”
467.
Mr Campbell
also asked for Mr Scarlett’s views on the draft Foreword for
Mr Blair.
This is
addressed later in this Section.
468.
In his diaries
Mr Campbell wrote:
“I got the
new dossier draft and did detailed comments … TB also read it
and
made some
comments. Nuclear was the most difficult part. Scarlett and I
chatted
228
Email Pruce
to Kelly, Campbell and others, 17 September 2002, ‘Dossier – 16
September Draft’.
229
Minute
Campbell to Scarlett, 17 September 2002, [untitled].
230
Campbell A
& Hagerty B. The
Alastair Campbell Diaries. Volume 4. The Burden of Power:
Countdown
to
Iraq. Hutchinson,
2012.
201