The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
… with the
US”. The letter recommended that Sir David Manning raise the issue
with his
US
interlocutors during his imminent visit to Washington.
185.
The briefing
note attached to the letter confirmed that SIS would be sending
more
staff to
Iraq to help the US effort on the ground, including debriefing
centres. The likely
timescales
for successful exploitation of sites was not to be
underestimated:
“UNMOVIC
allowed an average of two hours per facility, and found virtually
nothing.
It had
taken over two weeks to exploit and verify a single find, the
mobile laboratory.
There were
hundreds of known sites to exploit …”
186.
The note also
addressed the suspect trailer and provided an update
on
investigations
into CW munitions and production which had yet to produce
concrete
evidence.
187.
Sir David
Manning passed the briefing note to Mr Blair, describing it as
“An update
on the
problems and the (reasonably promising) prospects.”93
On
3 May, Lieutenant General Andrew Ridgway, Chief of Defence
Intelligence (CDI)
informed
Mr Hoon’s Private Office that the Defence Intelligence Staff
(DIS) assessed
that a
“trailer recovered north of Mosul on 24 April could be used as
a component of a
transportable
BW facility”.94
Lt Gen
Ridgway wrote that:
•
“The trailer
has a vessel with a capacity of over 100 litres of agent. It is
assessed
that […]”
•
“The discovery
of the trailer is highly significant … It is a gun, but not a
smoking gun.”
•
Some details
had already appeared in the US media, but “their full significance
has
yet to
emerge”.
Mr Hoon
was invited to agree that:
•
the
exploitation of the trailer was urgent and should be co-ordinated
between the US
and
UK;
•
the US should
be asked to agree to Dr Blix being briefed and to consider
the
evidence
being examined by an independent third party; and
•
the discovery
and likely role of the trailer should not be publicised until the
US and
UK had
agreed a common position.
93
Manuscript
comment Manning to Prime Minister, 11 May 2003, on Letter SIS4
to Manning, 9 May 2003,
‘WMD in
Iraq’.
94
Minute
Ridgway to PS/SofS [MOD], 3 May 2003, ‘Iraq: Probable
Transportable BW Production Trailer’.
460