'Dodgy dossier' was 'wrong', its author says

Tony Blair has always argued that no decision was ever made to invade Iraq in the months prior to the conflict and that Saddam could have prevented the war if only he had complied with UN resolutions. Now, according to the author of the first draft of the "dodgy dossier", - which might be released this week due to a court order - the mindset of the Blair administration had actually made war inevitable.

The government official who wrote the first draft of the "dodgy dossier" that helped propel Britain into war in Iraq today admits, "We were wrong."

John Williams, a former Foreign Office aide, said last night that publication of his document would expose how members of Tony Blair's team were locked in a mindset that made military action inevitable.

He reveals how the notion that Saddam possessed WMD was simply accepted as a given:

The draft was not disclosed at the Hutton inquiry into the death in 2003 of the former Iraq arms inspector David Kelly. The scientist had suggested the dossier was exaggerated to justify the UK joining the 2003 invasion.

Mr Williams, press secretary to three foreign secretaries, said that the dossier would show how wrong the Blair team was about Saddam's alleged possession of WMD. Mr Williams said: "The argument was that here was someone who had been known to possess illegal weapons. We regarded him as a threat." He added: "The document will show the mindset that everyone had. It was wrong and we know that now."

Dr David Kelly always insisted that the initial document had been "sexed up" and, according to Andrew Gilligan, that it had been done so at the request of "Campbell".

Certainly throughout the Hutton inquiry there were many reports of Campbell suggesting additions to Sir John Scarlett, who always appeared to be more than happy to include them. Indeed, it was the very fact that we all heard such evidence which led to Hutton's final conclusion's being so comprehensively written off as a "Whitewash".

Ministers have insisted that the dossier was entirely the work of intelligence agencies, but Mr Williams's role remains unclear. Mr Williams denies that he came up with the claim that Saddam could have launched a WMD strike within 45 minutes.

He said: "I was a member of the team looking at it.... I used the available information to write it, but [intelligence chief] John Scarlett was then commissioned to write it instead."

Andrew Murray, chairman of the Stop the War Coalition, said it was time the British people were told the truth: "The issue is how much the decision was based on intelligence, and how much [it was] a product of manipulation in Downing Street."

During the Hutton inquiry we also heard that Campbell stated that the Iraq dossier “had to be revelatory”.

It will be very interesting to see Williams's first draft, especially as he is falling over himself to prepare us for how "wrong" the mindset behind it was.

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Tags: John Williams, Andrew Gilligan, Dr David Kelly, Hutton inquiry, dodgy dossier, Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair, Iraq war