SHOW SOME RESPECT BLAIR: Campbell did redraft Iraq dossier
soci...@our_world.org
Campbell did redraft Iraq dossier
http://www.sundayherald.com/36214
Alastair "I was deranged" Campbell to Tony "when I say 'emphaically
not' I mean yes" Blair "... contaminate the success you had as a
war leader in Iraq."
Hutton releases 6000 pages of documents which show Blair's spin chief
actively involved in rewriting case for war
By Neil Mackay and Stephen Naysmith
A STAGGERING 6000 pages of documents released yesterday afternoon by
the Hutton Inquiry include e-mails from Number 10 and briefing papers
that confirm Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's communications chief,
had been actively involved in discussions on the compilation of the
Iraq dossier with John Scarlett, chairman of the joint intelligence
committee (JIC). Campbell wrote: "I had many discussions with the
chairman of the JIC on presentational issues arising from the dossier
and, in common with other officials, made drafting suggestions as
the document evolved through various drafts."
That contradicts the evidence he gave to the inquiry last week,
when Campbell had been at pains to play down the role he and other
officials played in compiling the dossier, stressing that it was
essentially the work of the JIC. He had said that he had "no input,
output or influence" on the dossier at any stage and that his own
contributions had been "observations" rather than "suggestions"
while e-mails from other officials commenting on the dossier had
been no more than "office chatter".
In another note to Blair, he emphasised that the "intelligence
judgments" in the dossier were entirely the work of the JIC and
that there was "no question of interference with them" by Downing
Street. "The allegations that I 'sexed up' the document and in so
doing abused intelligence is one that I reject entirely, and I have
the support of the chairman of the JIC, and the head of the SIS
[the Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6] in so doing," he said.
The note is apparently a draft because he adds in parentheses: "John,
are you happy with this (and can you check that Richard is)". John
presumably refers to Scarlett while Richard is Sir Richard Dearlove,
the chief of SIS.
In an e-mail to Scarlett, dated September 18, 2002 " days before the
dossier was published " Campbell appeared to acknowledge the degree
of pressure coming from Number 10.
"Sorry to bombard on this point, but I do worry that the nuclear
section will become the main focus and as currently drafted is not
in great shape," he said.
An e-mail the following day from the Downing Street chief of staff,
Jonathan Powell, expressed concern about the proposed wording of
the Prime Minister's forward to the dossier. "I don't like the first
sentence which makes him sound a bit James Bondy. Can we discuss""
he said.
In a speed-read of the documents published yesterday, the Sunday
Herald has also found:
Downing Street was sent into panic over what Dr David Kelly might
tell the Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) when he appeared before
MPs to answer questions about his conversations with BBC reporters.
Kelly was "briefed" and "prepared" by government officials and told
not to give the FAC his views on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction
programme.
A summary of Kelly's evidence, given in private to the Commons
Intelligence and Security Committee, showed that Kelly believed
there was only a "30% probability" that the Iraqis had usable weapons.
Kelly said the claim in the Prime Minister's September dossier that
Saddam could deploy WMD in just 45 minutes was "unwise" and was
included for "impact".
The documents also reveal Campbell urged Tony Blair to be "more
combative" in dealing with criticism of the plans for war.
In a lengthy briefing note from Campbell to Blair telling the Prime
Minister how to handle critics, Campbell accuses the BBC of trying to
"contaminate" Blair's success as a war leader.
The documents also include a second note from Campbell to the Prime
Minister urging Blair to allow him to give evidence to the FAC because
of his role in chairing a key committee involved in compiling the
government's dossier on Iraqi weapons.
The first note dated June 3 - five days after the BBC report claiming
the Government had "sexed up" its dossier on Iraqi weapons - was
intended to prepare Blair for Prime Minister's Questions and a
Commons statement the following day.
In it, Campbell said that the Prime Minister's aim should be to
"calm the frenzy" following the BBC story and rebuild support for
the government's basic position on Iraq.
"A week of denials has not taken us very far forward because the
media, particularly the BBC, are trying to create a 'no smoke without
fire' atmosphere," he wrote.
"As to the manner in which you deal with it, it must be calm,
confident, explanatory and thorough. But when you go on to the
broader issues, in particular reporting back on Iraq, I think you
should display a more combative approach."
Campbell warned Blair that he was facing rising opposition to
the war on all sides. "What is clearly happening here is that the
relatively more sober coverage of the war is giving way to the more
usual frenzied media, and the aim of our opponents is to contaminate
the success you had as a war leader in Iraq," he said.
"So those who opposed you then want to justify the opposition then "
that goes for some of our MPs, BBC, the left-leaning press. Those who
supported you, like the right-wing press, want to look for reasons
to regret their support and detach you from Bush."
In the second note, dated June 22, Campbell spells out to Blair why
he should be allowed to give evidence to MPs on the Foreign Affairs
Committee because of his "own personal role" in events.
"I believe there are legitimate questions to ask and that I am well
placed to answer them, having chaired the Iraqi Communications Group
in the run up to conflict," he said.
The documents also suggest that even as the Ministry of Defence
was preparing to confirm Kelly's name to journalists, there were
concerns in Whitehall that he may not have been the source of the
BBC story by Today programme journalist Andrew Gilligan.
Powell noted in an e-mail to Scarlett dated July 9: "A source in
the BBC has told us that Gilligan's source is in fact in the Cabinet
Office. This might well be a blind. But is there any reason to think
there could be any truth in that? Have phone logs been looked at etc?"
The Hutton Inquiry
24 August 2003
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