The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
producing
chemical and biological agents but they had not seen the
intelligence to
‘show’
this”. Dr Jones also reported that they “were even more convinced
that Iraq had
continued
to produce biological agents but that they would not go so far as
to say that
they ‘know’
this”.
646.
Mr Cragg
wrote that he had not discussed the minute with Dr Jones or
Dr Roper
“because I
read it after the working day and saw it as reiterating that
neither he
[Dr Jones]
nor his staff had seen the compartmented intelligence to support
the
formulation
in the draft, while at the same time confirming that the judgement
of the
dossier on
this issue was probably right”. He did not raise the matter with
Mr Scarlett,
Mr Miller
or the Assessments Staff, “because it was well known to the
drafters of the
dossier
that the DIS’ scientific staff had not seen the recent
compartmented intelligence
on the
current production of chemical and biological agent”.
647.
Mr Cragg
was absent from the office from 20 to 24 September. He wrote
that
he was:
“…
satisfied with the draft of 19 September, which was substantially
the same
as that of
20 September. I took the view that the judgement in the dossier on
the
current
production of chemical and biological agent in the Executive
Summary
and the
formulation in the main text was justified by the available
intelligence on
production,
including in the JIC Assessment of 9 September and my
awareness that
the
compartmented intelligence was seen as reliable. It was also
consistent with our
overall
assessment of Iraqi WMD capabilities.”
648.
In his
statement to the Iraq Inquiry, Dr Roper confirmed that he had
discussed
Dr Jones’
minute of 19 September with him on 23 September and that he could
not:
“… recall
all that was discussed; I sensed he was annoyed that so much had
been
happening
whilst he had been away. I do remember asking him a specific
question
along the
lines of ‘Are you telling me you do not believe there is WMD in
Iraq?’ His
reply was
along the line: ‘No I am not saying that, on balance I believe
there is WMD
in Iraq but
not with the degree of conviction implied in the draft
dossier’.”351
649.
Dr Roper wrote
that Mr Cragg had raised Dr Jones’ letter with him “possibly
later
that day
[23 September]”. Dr Roper described Mr Cragg as “annoyed” that
the letter had
been sent;
and that Mr Cragg “seemed content” when Dr Roper relayed the
gist of his
conversation
with Dr Jones.
351
Statement,
27 May 2011.
238