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June
12, 2003
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June
12, 2003
The Intel-gate Row
in Britain
A
Chronology
By GARY LEUPP
June 10, 2003
Key Watergate figure John W. Dean, former
counsel to President Richard Nixon, has drawn much attention
in the last few days by writing that, "In the three decades
since Watergate, this [problem of possibly doctored intelligence
on Iraq] is the first potential scandal I have seen that could
make Watergate pale by comparison. If the Bush Administration
intentionally manipulated or misrepresented intelligence to get
Congress to authorize, and the public to support, military action
to take control of Iraq, then that would be a monstrous misdeed
To put it bluntly, if Bush has taken Congress and the nation
into war based on bogus information, he is cooked. Manipulation
or deliberate misuse of national security intelligence data,
if proven, could be 'a
high crime' under the Constitution's impeachment clause."
(Dean has even appeared on MSNBC television arguing along these
lines, although the interviewer seemed skeptical and pointedly
reminded him how popular the president is.)
If indeed WMP are not soon found (or
convincingly planted), that process of presidential embarrassment
might be abetted by developments in the United Kingdom, which,
after all, is the only other significant member of what in Orwellian
speech is termed "the Coalition." It's also, for many
Americans, the best liked of foreign countries. It's the Mother
Country, it's the Beatles, it's Austin Powers. So what happens
there is more important to us than what happens in, say, France.
The British public has all along been far more opposed to the
Iraq war than its U.S. counterpart, even as Blair (I suspect,
in some fear and trembling) agreed to respect the "special
relationship" by breaking with world opinion in backing
the war-plan and, unlike the other "Coalition partners,"
actually contributing thousands of troops. Support went a bit
over 50% just on the eve of the invasion because many Brits were
convinced that Saddam indeed posed an immanent threat to the
Western world. But now disillusionment and anger have superseded
naivety, and Blair may have to pay for his Faustian pact.
It's happening very fast. A most interesting aspect is the role
of the "intelligence community." (Gotta love that expression.)
*
* * * *
A brief chronology
of the Row (surely with some significant omissions).
May 29: While
Prime Minister Tony Blair is in Iraq, some Labour Party members
react angrily to Donald Rumsfeld's comment in New York that maybe
the Iraqis had destroyed their weapons of mass destruction before
the Anglo-American invasion.
Jeremy Corbyn, Member of Parliament for Islington North, says
Blair and Bush should be tried by international criminal court
for embarking on an "illegal" conflict. Robin Cook,
former cabinet minister and Leader of the House of Commons who
had resigned in protest just before the war began, states Rumsfeld's
comments blow "an enormous gaping hole through the case
for war that was made on both sides of the Atlantic." Former
Labour MP Tony Benn states: "I believe the Prime Minister
lied to us and lied to us and lied to us."
Kenneth Clarke, former Conservative Chancellor, says the lack
of the WMDs raise questions of trust in the Government. (In Kuwait,
Blair says, "I have no doubt we will find weapons of mass
destruction.")
May 30: Guardian reports that MI6 and GCHQ (the government's eavesdropping
center) had opposed publication of the government's dossier in
September 2002, indicating that Iraqis could "deploy chemical
weapons within 45 minutes of an order to do so." Intelligence
agents thought the source was unreliable, but "could not
stand up to" Alastair Campbell, Blair's director of strategy
and communications and closest adviser, and the staff of "the
Coalition Information Centre, a propaganda body set up in the
Foreign Office."
June 2:
At a press conference, Blair denies former cabinet minister Clare
Short's accusation that "I made some secret agreement with
George Bush back last September that we would invade Iraq in
any event at a particular time," says it is "completely
and totally untrue." Says an "international survey
group" will begin accumulating evidence in Iraq prior to
the production of a definitive report on the Iraqi WMDs. Promises
to publish new dossier of evidence when research completed. "I
simply ask people to just have a little patience."
MP Malcolm Savidge, one of 73 MPs who
signed a Commons motion calling for the evidence on weapons of
mass destruction to be published in full, states: "I cannot
conceive, in fact, of a more serious accusation than that Parliament
and the people could have been misled into being brought into
a war on false pretences. That to me is more serious than Watergate."
Daily Telegraph notes
"signs of a rift between ministers and the intelligence
services."
June 5:
Writing in the London Telegraph, Ibrahim al-Marashi, US-based
academic whose research, published 12 years earlier, had been
used without acknowledgment in a UK intelligence document in
February, says Downing Street "plagiarised and manipulated"
academic material by inflating figures and exaggerating Iraq's
weapons capability.
Lord Healey, former chancellor, deputy
leader of the Labour Party, member of the House of Lords, calls
on Tony Blair to resign if weapons of mass destruction are not
found in Iraq.
In an appearance before Commons, Blair vehemently denies any
intelligence had been doctored. Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith
declares, "The truth is that nobody believes now a word
of what the prime minister says" and that accusations about
cooking of information undermine the credibility of British intelligence
services. Demands Blair publish any new information about Iraqi
WMDs.
Commons leader and Blair intimate John Reid blames "rogue
elements" in the intelligence services for an effort to
undermine Blair and Campbell.
June 6:
Blair agrees to cooperate with an investigation into intelligence
regarding Iraqi WMDs by an 8-person Intelligence Security Committee
that reports to the Prime Minister, not Parliament. Liberal Democrats
in Commons demand an independent parliamentary inquiry.
Major Charles Heyman, editor of Jane's
World Armies, says "The [British] intelligence
community is leaking like a sieve because at the end of the day
their credibility is on the line. Something is going to blow
very shortly. Blair is going to be lucky to survive" (quoted
in Sydney Morning Herald, June 7).
June 7: 62%
of Britons polled say Blair government "untrustworthy"
(Times Online).
June 8:
Scotsman reports first Blair dossier on Iraq's WMDs (October
2002) was "almost entirely put together from information
freely available on the internet;" says "The revelation
is hugely embarrassing for the Prime Minister"
Independent reports that "Cabinet bruiser John Reid
was instructed by Downing Street to make his now famous attack
last week [June 5] on 'rogue elements' within the security services."
Campbell "wanted the attack launched on Wednesday morning
because Mr Blair was due in the Commons that afternoon to take
Prime Minister's Questions"
Paper notes Reid's "comments have
angered senior figures in the intelligence community, who see
them as an attack on their profession. They are hoping that the
Prime Minister will disown his minister, compelling Dr Reid to
apologise Intelligence officers are holding a 'smoking gun' which
proves that they were subjected to a series of demands by Tony
Blair's staff in the run-up to the Iraq war. The officers are
furious about the accusation leveled by the Leader of the Commons,
John Reid, that 'rogue elements' are at work in the security
services. They fear they are being lined up to take the blame
for faulty intelligence used to justify the Iraq war. The
intelligence services were so concerned about demands made by
Downing Street for evidence to use against Iraq that extensive
files have been built up detailing communications with Mr Blair's
staff [emphasis added]."
British press widely cites New York Times article casting
doubt on the purpose of the "mobile labs" found in
Iraq. Observer says it "has established that it is
increasingly likely that the units were designed to be used for
hydrogen production to fill artillery balloons, part of a system
sold to Saddam by Britain in 1987." Notes that the CIA and
Federation of American Scientists doubt Bush administration assertions
that they are mobile germ warfare labs. MI6 is ordered to conduct
an urgent review of the facilities.
Telegraph
reports "senior intelligence officers were furious that
randomly assembled material had been combined with MI6 intelligence
reports by the coalition information center The information was
not put through the normal checks in Whitehall, including the
approval of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), chaired by
John Scarlett, before it was published. One highly placed intelligence
officer disowned the document at the time, saying: 'We are not
responsible for this bastard offspring.'"
Government denies a report that Sir Richard
Dearlove, chief of Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), and Eliza
Manningham-Buller, head of the domestic intelligence service
MI5, had threatened to resign over the issue.
British press reports Campbell has written
Dearlove apologizing for discrediting the service with
the issuance of the February dossier mixing materials from Marashi's
thesis with material from MI6.
Downing St. denies an apology, but says
Campbell "assured the heads of (security) agencies that
far greater care would be taken on work that could impact on
their own reputation or work" in future.
Senior members of the Commons Foreign
Affairs Select Committee say they will summon Campbell, Blair,
and Jack Straw (the Foreign Secretary) to give evidence to the
committee on this issue. All will also be asked to give evidence
to the Intelligence and Security Committee.
A senior Whitehall (Foreign Office) official
is quoted in the Telegraph: "[The dossier] devalued
the currency, there is no question about that. There is a dispute
about who saw what. But it is clear that the Joint Intelligence
Committee was not involved. It was a monumental cock-up."
Independent reports
Lianne Seymour, widow of a 27 year old British commando killed
in the Iraq war has accused Tony Blair of "deceiving"
her husband with misleading claims about Saddam Hussein's weapons
of mass destruction.
David Clark, in the Mail: "During
my four years as a Foreign Office adviser, I read [joint intelligence
committee] assessments on a weekly basis... I saw nothing to
persuade me that Saddam posed the sort of imminent threat that
might require an immediate military response... [Its] conclusions
are always carefully hedged. I remember feeling frustrated that
the assessments... contained so many caveats and qualifications
that it was often impossible to know what to make of them."
Sunday Herald reports on "Operation Rockingham,"
created by British intelligence after the Gulf War to create
"a fake picture that Saddam was armed to the teeth"
and so justify his overthrow. Cites former arms inspector Scott
Ritter: "We were all subject to a programme of mass deception,
but now the lie has been exposed. In practice, Rockingham was
dangerous." Ritter offers to testify before Parliament about
the operation.
June 10: Guardian notes that, "The debunking of the Bush administration's
pre-war certainties on Iraq gathered pace yesterday when it emerged
that the CIA knew for months that a connection between Saddam
Hussein and al-Qaida was highly unlikely."
Daily Telegraph reports
that Blair is unlikely to appear before Parliament's Foreign
Affairs Select Committee to discuss his role in the preparation
of the dossier on Iraq's WMD. Blair spokesman states the prime
minister and his officials do not normally do so. Iain Duncan
Smith requests Campbell be made available for questioning by
MPs, writes to Blair that "It would be quite incredible
if any inquiry into Downing Street's use of intelligence material
did not take evidence from Mr Campbell" But the newspaper
says Campbell "is prepared to defy a summons from MPs to
give evidence"
At a news conference, Blair declares,
"There is not a shred of evidence that we have doctored
or manipulated intelligence."
*
* * * *
At present the Senators Joseph Biden
and Richard Lugar are content to opine that, even if we Americans
were lied to, it doesn't really matter, since we've freed the
world of a tyrant. But if we see Blair fall, while U.S. troops
are falling in ongoing battle day by day, they may see the lies
differently. Then we'll see whether the manipulated, mindless,
"nuke 'em all" flag-waving nationalism so widespread
in this country for almost two years will suffice to preserve
the administration.
In a column on the LewRockwell.com website,
conservative commentator Jim Grichar predicted the following.
"If Blair is booted out over his lies on Iraqi WMD---and
make no mistake, he had the same weak intelligence evidence
the U.S. had on Iraq---expect 'Dubya' to break into a real
hard sweat [If] Bush is known to have knowingly and deliberately
lied---that is, run his own Intel-gate---he
could be in real political trouble."
Maybe in this case Dr. Faust, having
made his pact with Mephistopheles, will bring the latter down
and get "cooked"(to use Dean's term) right along with
him.
Gary Leupp
is an an associate professor, Department of History, Tufts University
and coordinator, Asian Studies Program.
He can be reached at: gleupp@tufts.edu
Today's
Features
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Attack of the Hog Killers: Why the
Generals Hate the A-10
Elaine
Cassel
Meet Michael Chertoff: Ashcroft's
Top Gremlin
David Lindorff
The Republican Drive to Eliminate Overtime Pay
Tom
Gorman
Greens, the Antiwar Movement and 2004
Alfredo
Castro
Colombia: The Most Dangerous Place
on Earth for Trade Unionists
Nnimo
Bassey and Lawrence Bohlen
Bush Must Stop Telling Us What to
Eat!
Julie Hilden
Spike Lee v. Spike TV
CounterPunch
Wire
Blair Bros. Change Jobs!
Eric
Hobsbawm
The Empire Expands, Wider and Still
Wider
Steve
Perry
DHS: As Big
a Planning Snafu as Iraq?
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