Diplomat's suppressed document lays bare the lies behind Iraq war

Previously suppressed evidence has been released that blows apart Tony Blair's reasoning for the war in Iraq and implies that the Prime Minster lied over what Britain believed was Iraq's WMD capability.

A devastating attack on Mr Blair's justification for military action by Carne Ross, Britain's key negotiator at the UN, has been kept under wraps until now because he was threatened with being charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act.

In the testimony revealed today Mr Ross, 40, who helped negotiate several UN security resolutions on Iraq, makes it clear that Mr Blair must have known Saddam Hussein possessed no weapons of mass destruction. He said that during his posting to the UN, "at no time did HMG [Her Majesty's Government] assess that Iraq's WMD (or any other capability) posed a threat to the UK or its interests."

The belief amongst British officials was that Saddam was "contained" and therefore threatened no-one. No new evidence had emerged to change that consensus opinion.

"What had changed was the Government's determination to present available evidence in a different light," he added.

The Foreign Affairs committee, who have released this evidence, seem well aware of the significance of what they have out into the public arena:

One member of the Foreign Affairs committee said: "There was blood on the carpet over this. I think it's pretty clear the Foreign Office used the Official Secrets Act to suppress this evidence, by hanging it like a Sword of Damacles over Mr Ross, but we have called their bluff."

And the fact that the British did not believe that Saddam possessed WMD is not the only damning evidence contained in the report.

He also reveals that British officials warned US diplomats that bringing down the Iraqi dictator would lead to the chaos the world has since witnessed. "I remember on several occasions the UK team stating this view in terms during our discussions with the US (who agreed)," he said.

"At the same time, we would frequently argue when the US raised the subject, that 'regime change' was inadvisable, primarily on the grounds that Iraq would collapse into chaos."

This was the evidence that I reported recently that Ross gave to the Butler Enquiry which was marked secret and banned from being released to the public. Now that it's out there it is staggering to realise the size of the lies that Blair was telling prior to the invasion.

Mr Ross told the inquiry, chaired by Lord Butler, "there was no intelligence evidence of significant holdings of CW [chemical warfare], BW [biological warfare] or nuclear material" held by the Iraqi dictator before 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 neighbours or the UK or the US," he added.

Blair constantly led us to believe that there was clear evidence that Saddam possessed WMD. One can see why he wanted this testimony suppressed. It clearly states that there was no such evidence of any kind to support the claims that he was making.

As one who has always thought that Blair made a decision to go to war and then went seeking evidence to back that decision, I can't even say that this revelation shocks me. What does shock me is the level of cynicism that has been employed and the way the Official Secrets Act has been used as a political tool to protect Blair from the consequences of his own actions.

It's now out there in the open. Blair lied. Openly. Repeatedly.

What's really disgraceful about this is that the public are so sickened by the political process that led to this war that they have disengaged, which probably means that Blair will sail on, unharmed by the revelation that he lied and people died.

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The full transcript of evidence given to the Butler inquiry

Any assessment of threat has to include both capabilities and intent. Iraq's capabilities in WMD were moot: many of the UN's weapons inspectors (who, contrary to popular depiction, were impressive and professional) would tell me that they believed Iraq had no significant material.

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