4.4 | The
search for WMD
“But I
agree, we’re not in disagreement at all. The search must
continue.”
620.
Mr Blair
discussed the ISG with President Bush on
28 January.342
Mr Blair
said
that the
first ISG Report showed that Saddam Hussein had been in breach of
multiple
Security
Council resolutions. When the next report came it would be
necessary to
ensure that
it was properly presented.
621.
Mr Duelfer
wrote in his memoir that Dr Kay’s testimony, “We were all wrong”,
had
sounded
conclusive even though Dr Kay had been declaring that Iraq was
violating UN
resolutions
throughout the 1990s and in the lead-up to the war:
“Aside from
angering the staff he left in Iraq, Kay’s declarations made it
much
more
difficult to collect information from Iraqi sources. Once the world
had heard
the decrees
of the former ISG leader, why should any of the Iraqis provide
further
622.
On
28 January, Lord Hutton published his report into the
circumstances
surrounding
the death of Dr Kelly.344
The
principal conclusions of the Hutton Report
relating to
the September 2002 intelligence dossier and the 45 minutes claim
are
addressed
in Section 4.2.
623.
Commenting on
the Hutton Report at the meeting of the JIC on
28 January,
Mr Scarlett
said:
“The JIC’s
reputation had taken a knock in the short term but it was important
to
keep things
in proportion. There continued to be great respect for the JIC and
what
it
represented. The JIC’s higher profile as a result of the Hutton
Inquiry carried
implications
however that would need careful managing.”345
624.
Mr Scarlett
also thanked the Committee members and the Assessments Staff
for
their
support.
625.
After the
publication of the Hutton Report, the Government sent its
deferred
response to
the 11 September 2003 ISC report Iraqi
Weapons of Mass Destruction –
Intelligence
and Assessments.346
626.
In response to
the ISC’s criticism that the 9 September 2002 JIC
Assessment,
‘Iraqi Use
of Chemical and Biological Weapons – Possible Scenarios’ (see
Section 4.2),
did not
highlight in the Key Judgements the uncertainties and gaps in UK
knowledge
342
Letter
Rycroft to Adams, 28 January 2004, ‘Prime Minister’s
Conversation with Bush, 28 January’.
343
Duelfer
C. Hide and
Seek: The Search for Truth in Iraq. Public
Affairs, 2009.
344
Report of the
Inquiry into the Circumstances Surrounding the Death of Dr David
Kelly C.M.G.
by Lord
Hutton,
28 January 2004, HC 247.
345
Minutes,
28 January 2004, JIC meeting.
346
Government
Response to the Intelligence and Security Committee Report on Iraqi
Weapons of Mass
Destruction –
Intelligence and Assessments, 11 September
2003, February
2004, Cm6118.
547