Lord Butler Report on British Intelligence

Posted on July 14th, 2004 by Sadly No

[Added: All quotes (except “our favorite quote” which we selected) from the BBC’s live webcast of Lord Butler’s press conference. These may, or may not, be included as such in any BBC story.]

A few quotes from the BBC so far…

There was no recent intelligence that showed Iraq was of “more immediate concern” than some other countries when it came to WMD.

Lord Butler said his conclusions might provoke calls for John Scarlett’s resignation but he added the JIC head should not bear personal responsibility.

Lord Butler said after the war doubts arose about some of the intelligence sources that underpinned the government’s intelligence dossier.

Assessments that Iraq sought uranium from Africa were “well founded”.

Lord Butler said there was no doubt the government believed the judgements in the September dossier but it was a serious failure that the thinness of the intelligence was not included.

Intelligence reports that were relied on to claim biological weapons manufacture proved not to be accurate.

On the 45 minute claim, Lord Butler said his inquiry had looked at whether the claim had been spun by the government but he decided it had not. It had been seized on by the media because it was new and striking.

Lord Butler criticised the long chain of communication through which intelligence passes.

Lord Butler said that to the extent there was a weakness about the dossier it was the fault of everyone concerned -declined to name individuals.

The intelligence claims on Niger did not rest on forged documents alone – there were other sources.

It would have been “very foolish” to say the weapons were there when the war would establish shortly the truth of the matter.

Our favorite Lord Butler quote:

Iraq is a very big place, there’s a lot of sand. […] It’s wrong … to reach the conclusion that no stocks of agents will ever be found.

The BBC’s summary of the same:

Lord Butler said Iraq was a very big place and there was “lots of sand” and it would be an unwise person who reached the conclusion that nothing would ever be found in Iraq.

Does Lord Butler know about David Kay?

“Anyone out there holding – as I gather Prime Minister Blair has recently said – the prospect that, in fact, the Iraq Survey Group is going to unmask actual weapons of mass destruction, are really delusional,” he [David Kay] said.

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Comments: 4

Tom Maguire

July 14th, 2004 at 4:51 pm

Good job, but Sadly, where? The BBC is notorious for revising posted stories, so I am not blaming you, but I can’t find either of these points you mentioned:

Assessments that Iraq sought uranium from Africa were “well founded”.

or:

Our favorite Lord Butler quote:

Iraq is a very big place, there’s a lot of sand. […] It’s wrong … to reach the conclusion that no stocks of agents will ever be found.

I’m sure it was there in that story once (and maybe will be again). Or is there some link I am missing?

I also see that the BBC site links to the Butler report itself, so happy hunting.

Hmm, they also have a side link that leads to this:

Uranium from Niger

British intelligence on the claim that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger was “credible”. There was not conclusive evidence Iraq actually purchased the material, nor did the government make that claim.

We’ll see how long that link holds up – the joy of excerpting the BBC!