Prewar Iraq Not Seen as Risk to U.K., Document Says

The British government did not believe that prewar Iraq posed a threat to the United Kingdom, according to a statement from a former Foreign Office official made public this week (see GSN, Sept. 7).

Carne Ross, former first secretary to the British mission to the United Nations, submitted his statement in 2004 during an inquiry into prewar intelligence on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, July 14, 2004).

“At no time did [Her Majesty’s Government] assess that Iraq’s WMD (or any other capability) posed a threat to the U.K. or its interests,” according to Ross’ statement, which was posted yesterday on the Web site of the House of Commons’ Foreign Affairs Committee.

“There was no intelligence evidence of significant holdings of CW (chemical weapons), BW (biological weapons) or nuclear material,” said Ross, who resigned from the Foreign Office in 2004 to protest the invasion.

“There was moreover no intelligence or assessment during my time in the job that Iraq had any intention to launch an attack against its neighbors or the U.K. or U.S.,” his statement adds.

“It was the commonly held view among the officials dealing with Iraq that any threat had been effectively contained,” Ross said.  “I remember on several occasions the U.K. team stating this view during our discussions with the U.S. (who agreed).”

“At the same time, we would frequently argue, when the U.S. raised the subject, that ‘regime change’ was inadvisable, primarily on the grounds that Iraq would collapse into chaos,” he said.

The British government offered the primary foreign support to the U.S.-led 2003 invasion.  No evidence of active WMD programs in Iraq have been found since the fall of the Hussein regime (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Dec. 15).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.