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Iraq: Blair Delays Release of WMD Report British Prime Minister Tony Blair has decided not to publish an intelligence report on Iraqi WMD programs before he visits U.S. President George W. Bush later this week, British officials said Sunday (see GSN, April 1). The British Cabinet Office has prepared a report that reportedly contains evidence Iraq is building weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles, and media reports have said the British government would release the information to the public. The report, however, apparently lacks evidence strong enough to garner support for an attack on Iraq, the London Independent reported yesterday. The British foreign intelligence service, MI6, apparently is not certain the Iraqi regime has links to al-Qaeda, according to the Independent. The CIA, however, has indicated it believes Iraq is connected to al-Qaeda (see GSN, March 20). The Independent reported that British officials had indicated earlier that the report would be released before the Blair-Bush meeting (Marie Woolf, London Independent, April 1). Blair’s office said no date has been set for releasing the report, Agence France-Presse reported. “I would not read anything significant into the fact it has yet to be published. When we think the time has come, we will,” said a British spokesman (Agence France-Presse/Jordan Times, April 2). Attack Not Imminent, Says British Foreign Secretary Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on BBC Radio today that U.S. military action against Iraq is not certain. “As to this issue of military action toward Iraq, I do not believe that it is imminent,” he said (Xinhua news agency, April 2). “Not a Council of War” British officials said Blair and Bush would not plan an attack on Iraq during their meeting this week. “This isn’t a decision-making summit. This is a thinking-through-the-options summit. We’re not going to be coming out of Texas with decisions taken. It is not a council of war,” said Blair’s spokesman. The spokesman added, however, that the international community cannot “bury its head in the sand” regarding the threat from Iraq. Blair has faced opposition from within his own party regarding Iraq. A total of 122 Labor Party members of Parliament have signed a House of Commons motion opposing an attack (Nigel Morris, London Independent, April 2).
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