Tony Blair

MI5 told Blair Iraq was no threat to UK

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8728371/MI5-told-Blair-Iraq-was-no-threat-to-UK.html

Britain faced no threat from Iraq when Tony Blair decided to take the country to war, the head of MI5 at the time of the invasion has declared.

Baroness Manningham-Buller disclosed that she had warned the then Labour Prime Minister that the UK would be at greater risk of terrorist attacks if he pursued military action against Saddam Hussein’s regime.

The former director general of the domestic security service, who retired in 2007, described the Iraq conflict as a “distraction” from efforts to tackle al Qaida and warned that more terrorist attacks on British soil seemed likely.

Her comments, in an interview to mark the start of her three Reith Lectures, which will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 this week, represent the most outspoken criticisms to date of the 2003 conflict by such a senior figure in the intelligence services.

Mr Blair, and his former communications director, Alastair Campbell, have faced repeated criticism over the Labour government’s public case for military action.

Exposure of police spy in UK sheds light on covert operations

Exposure of police spy in UK sheds light on covert operations
By Robert Stevens
19 January 2011

Last week, a trial of six environmental campaigners at Nottingham Crown Court in England collapsed. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said they could not continue, as “new evidence” had come to light undermining their case.

Police Constable Mark Kennedy had been an undercover police agent within the environmental movement since 2003 and had offered to give evidence on behalf of the six.

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Kennedy confirmed that the evidence in question consisted of tape recordings he had made, which police withheld from defence lawyers. Under the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act of 1996, the police are duty-bound to make the CPS and the defence team aware of the evidence they have compiled. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is currently investigating whether Nottinghamshire Police made available all the evidence they had to the CPS.

British Government's September 2002 dossier on Iraq [cartoon]

The Independent, 14 May 2011

 

 

 

The Independent, 13 May 2011

 

 

 

source: Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Assessment of the British Government, 24 September 2002
http://www.archive2.official-documents.co.uk/document/reps/iraq/iraqdossier.pdf
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Secret memos expose link between oil firms and invasion of Iraq By Paul Bignell

Secret memos expose link between oil firms and invasion of Iraq By Paul Bignell

Tuesday, 19 April 2011

Plans to exploit Iraq's oil reserves were discussed by government ministers and the world's largest oil companies the year before Britain took a leading role in invading Iraq, government documents show.

The papers, revealed here for the first time, raise new questions over Britain's involvement in the war, which had divided Tony Blair's cabinet and was voted through only after his claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

The minutes of a series of meetings between ministers and senior oil executives are at odds with the public denials of self-interest from oil companies and Western governments at the time.

The documents were not offered as evidence in the ongoing Chilcot Inquiry into the UK's involvement in the Iraq war. In March 2003, just before Britain went to war, Shell denounced reports that it had held talks with Downing Street about Iraqi oil as "highly inaccurate". BP denied that it had any "strategic interest" in Iraq, while Tony Blair described "the oil conspiracy theory" as "the most absurd".

Tony Blair’s ex-roommate shut down inquest into death of David Kelly: report

By Daniel Tencer
Monday, December 13th, 2010

 

UK may reopen inquest into death of Iraq whistleblower

Britain's attorney general may finally allow a full inquest into the death of David Kelly, a weapons inspector who died under suspicious circumstances shortly after being identified as the source of a leak that embarrassed the British government ahead of the invasion of Iraq.

A probe carried out shortly after Kelly's death -- known as the Hutton inquiry -- was made secret by the British government. Earlier this year, the new coalition government unsealed those records, showing that the inquiry had concluded Kelly's death was a suicide.

Tories ready to reopen Dr David Kelly suicide inquiry

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1284116/Tories-ready-reopen-Dr-David-Kelly-suicide-inquiry.html 

Tories ready to reopen Dr David Kelly suicide inquiry

By JAMES SLACK and MILES GOSLETT

Last updated at 8:39 AM on 5th June 2010

Dr David Kelly's medical records, due to be kept secret for 70 years, may be released earlier

The investigation into the death of weapons inspector David Kelly is likely to be reopened, it has emerged.

The case has 'concerned' Attorney General Dominic Grieve and - as the highest ranking law officer in England - he is considering an inquiry to review the suicide finding, Whitehall sources say.

At the same time, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke is considering a request from campaigning doctors to release medical files relating to the death. 

Lord Hutton, whose inquiry into the death was denounced as a whitewash, has indicated the papers should be kept secret for 70 years.

Blair warned in 2000 Iraq war was illegal: Secret papers withheld by Chilcot inquiry reveal Foreign Office fears over invasion

article posted in full for posterity; visit original to see the document- loose nuke

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/blair-warned-in-2000-iraq-war-was-illegal-1914293.html
Blair warned in 2000 Iraq war was illegal: Secret papers withheld by Chilcot inquiry reveal Foreign Office fears over invasion

By Michael Savage, Political Correspondent
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
REUTERS
Tony Blair gives evidence to the Iraq Inquiry in Westminster on 29 January

An invasion of Iraq was discussed within the Government more than two years before military action was taken – with Foreign Office mandarins warning that an invasion would be illegal, that it would claim "considerable casualties" and could lead to the breakdown of Iraq, The Independent can reveal.

The extent of Whitehall opposition to the policy eventually backed by Tony Blair emerges just three days before Gordon Brown will appear at the Iraq Inquiry, where he will be asked to explain his role in the Government's decision to invade.

Blair admits "legal" basis for Iraq war an Orwellian lie; psychopathic monster then threatens Iran

hyperlinks and video live at source: http://www.examiner.com/x-18425-LA-County-Nonpartisan-Examiner~y2010m1d29-Blair-admits-legal-basis-for-Iraq-war-an-Orwelli...

The UK Chilcot inquiry of the Iraq war previously disclosed unanimous legal opinion in the Foreign Office that the war is unlawful. Today former Prime Minister Tony Blair testified that he authorized war when his Attorney General “changed his mind” to embrace an "interpretation" of UN Security Council Resolution 1441 that any objective legal analysis definitively proves as an obvious Orwellian lie.

Please invest a few minutes of your attention to understand the law created after two world wars that makes war lawful or unlawful. Please engage your citizenry against a lie accurately characterized as “emperor has no clothes” self-evident fact, a Hitler-sized “Big Lie,” Machiavellian, literally psychopathic, and exactly what eminent philosopher Harry Frankfurt explained in his bestseller, On Bullshi*.

UK's Blair says Sept. 11 changed view on Iraq *Reuters Jan 29

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100129/ts_nm/us_britain_iraq_blair

UK's Blair says Sept. 11 changed view on Iraq
Reuters

By Michael Holden Michael Holden –

LONDON (Reuters) – The September 11 attacks changed the "calculus of risk" and meant it was no longer possible to contain Saddam Hussein through sanctions, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Friday, explaining why he backed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Iraqi dictator.

Blair was appearing before an inquiry into Britain's role in the war, to which he committed 45,000 troops. It was the most controversial episode of his 10-year premiership, provoking huge protests, divisions within his Labour Party and accusations he had deceived the public about the justification for invasion.

Under close questioning, Blair said the September 11, 2001 al Qaeda attacks on the United States, and the threat of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), meant that the policy of containing Saddam could not continue.

"Up to September 11, we thought he was a risk but we thought it was worth trying to contain it. The crucial thing after September 11 is that the calculus of risk changed," Blair said.

Comment: Iraq confession puts Blair's integrity on line

Comment: Iraq confession puts Blair's integrity on line

By Robin Oakley, CNN Political Contributor

Removing Saddam was right, even without WMDs, says Blair

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8408918.stm

It would have been right to remove Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein even without evidence he had weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Tony Blair has said.

The former prime minister said it was the "notion" of Saddam as a threat to the region which tilted him in favour of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Response to Maher Osseiran’s Critique of David Ray Griffin’s Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive?

Maher Osseiran, who has written about Osama bin Laden and his many videos, recently wrote a rather scathing critique of David Ray Griffin’s Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive? I had planned to write about the book at more length, but, sparked by Osseiran’s article, I figure I’ll address one issue now.

In chapter 2, “Two Fake Bin Laden Videos in 2001,” Griffin discusses a recording that he calls the “October Video,” in which bin Laden makes statements some people regard as incriminating concerning the 9/11 attacks. Griffin points out that the contents of the video were previewed in the British media, but that when British Prime Minister Tony Blair then referred to them in a speech, he did not release the video.

Tony Blair to face Iraq probe early next year By Agence France-Presse/Raw Story Nov. 13th, 2009

http://rawstory.com/2009/11/tony-blair-face-iraq-probe-early-year/

Tony Blair to face Iraq probe early next year

By Agence France-Presse
Friday, November 13th, 2009 -- 9:57 am

Tony Blair to face Iraq probe early next year LONDON — Former prime minister Tony Blair is to be called to give evidence to an inquiry into the Iraq war, officials announced on Friday, six years after he controversially backed the US-led invasion.

Blair will be among senior figures from the ruling Labour Party to go before the independent inquiry early next year, just months before the next general election in June, which the party is tipped to lose.

John Chilcot, a former civil servant who heads the inquiry, said the first five weeks of public sessions, starting on November 24, would hear from senior officials and military officers.

"We will ask them to explain the main decisions and tasks, and their involvement," Chilcot said.

"That will give us a clear understanding of how policy developed and was implemented, and what consideration was given to alternative approaches."
Story continues below...

London: Wall of Sound - Noisy Protest against war criminal Tony BLiar

Stop the War Coalition called as many people as possible to create a wall of sound to accompany war criminal Tony Blair gives a lecture on Faith and Globalisation at Westminster Cathedral in London on Thursday 3 April. Still, nothing reported in the MSM.

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