Ex-Minister Cook: Blair knew Iraq had no WMD

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Cook: Blair knew Iraq had no WMD

Scotlandonsunday.com -Oct 04, 2003

TONY Blair privately admitted on the eve of war in Iraq that Saddam Hussein did not have any useable weapons of mass destruction, Robin Cook, the former Foreign Secretary, has claimed.

In an explosive allegation which challenges the Prime Minister�s honesty and dramatically undermines the case for military action, Cook says Blair told him on March 5 he no longer believed Saddam had WMD ready to fire within 45 minutes.

Blair knew Iraq weapon claims were incorrect, says ex-minister

AFP -October 4

British Prime Minister Tony Blair privately conceded before the war with Iraq that it had no quickly deployable chemical weapons, despite publicly claiming that Saddam Hussein's arsenal posed a serious threat, former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said.

Cook suggested that when he spoke to the prime minister two weeks before the conflict began on March 20 he gained the impression that Blair was determined to go to war, regardless of progress made by United Nations inspectors hunting for weapons of mass destruction.

Cook's claims are included in a book based on diaries he kept during the tense period in the run-up to war, serialised in the Sunday Times.

The London-based newspaper said the revelations shattered the case for war put forward by the government that Iraq posed a "serious and current" threat.

Blair 'not welcome' at war service

Independent -October 5

The families of British soldiers killed in Iraq have fiercely criticised Tony Blair's decision to attend a remembrance service for Britain's war dead.

One grieving relative - the father of the helicopter pilot Philip Green killed in a crash - said the Prime Minister should stay away from the service at St Paul's Cathedral on Friday.

Richard Green, a businessman from Grantham, Lincolnshire, claimed Mr Blair had lied to the nation about the need for war and was ultimately to blame for the deaths of 51 British troops. "He shouldn't be there because he's the one that killed them," he said. The attacks are highly damaging for Mr Blair - coming only days after he avoided an embarrassing clash with Labour activists over his decision to attack Iraq without United Nations backing.

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