News and Document archive source
copyrighted material disclaimer at bottom of page

NewsMinewar-on-terroriraqpretext — Viewing Item


Rumsfeld draws blank on blairs 45 minute iraq claim { February 11 2004 }

Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
   http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1042956.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1042956.htm

Last Update: Wednesday, February 11, 2004. 5:50pm (AEDT)

Rumsfeld draws blank on Blair's '45 minute' Iraq claim
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he does not recall British Prime Minister Tony Blair's pre-war claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction ready to be deployed in 45 minutes.

"I don't remember the statement being made, to be perfectly honest," Mr Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference.

General Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he did not remember the statement either.

The claim made headlines around the world after Mr Blair levelled it in a 55-page "white paper" presented to the House of Commons in September 2002.

The dossier said Iraq had military plans to use chemical and biological weapons and "some of these weapons could be deployed within 45 minutes of an order to use them."

It later became the centre of a huge scandal in Britain following an allegation in a BBC report that Downing Street had "sexed up" up the Iraqi dossier by inserting the 45-minute claim, knowing it was wrong.

Judge Lord Hutton, who led an inquiry into the affair, exonerated Mr Blair after concluding that it was based on available intelligence, even though it was from a single source and referred only to battlefield weapons, a nuance left out of the February 2002 dossier.

Mr Rumsfeld was asked whether before the war he believed the British claim.

"I'd have to see the statement. And to have an opinion, I would have to go ask the intelligence community as to what they thought at that time," he said

"Because what it is they thought very likely would be what it is I thought. And I'd have to go back and I don't know when the statement was made," he said.

-- AFP



alqaeda
british
david-kelly
doubts
false-intelligence
inquiry
investigation
iraq-denies
israel
leak-osama-link
wmd
2002 dia report questions intelligence for war { November 6 2005 }
Administration manifactured and manipulated intelligence
Broke missile limits { February 13 2003 }
Bureau of intelligence and research got it wrong { July 19 2004 }
Bush and blair plot pretext to attack iraq
Bush warns on iraq { October 6 2002 }
Chemical attack 45min
Cheney passed intelligence from iraqi national congress
Cheneys war by fraud exposed
Could plant weapons
Distortions of intelligence on iraq { August 1 2003 }
Drone weapon { March 13 2003 }
Drones target cities { February 24 2003 }
Fabricating pretext war
Found road
German embassy siezed by anti hussein iraqis { August 21 2002 }
German embassy siezed by iraqi dissidents { August 20 2002 }
Iraq china chemical
Iraq not violating fly zones { November 19 2002 }
Iraq nukes soon { September 16 2002 }
Iraq report claims no arms { September 17 2004 }
Iraq report falls short { December 20 2002 }
Iraqi speakers found { August 26 2002 }
Nonexistent biolab trailers carried case for war { April 12 2006 }
Nsa has evidence
Oil contracts planned pre 911
Pilot behind enemy lines
Powell testiomy based on flawed intelligence { February 5 2003 }
Report criticizes administration assessments of iraq dangers
Report says iraq bigger threat if defeated { July 21 2003 }
Reporter apologizes for iraq coverage { March 29 2004 }
Rumsfeld draws blank on blairs 45 minute iraq claim { February 11 2004 }
Rumsfeld told saudi bandar sadam is toast
Stovepipe seymour hersh { September 11 2001 }
Tape deceiving inspectors { February 3 2003 }
Tenet denied influence from osp { February 6 2004 }
Tenet denies pressure to torque iraq intelligence
Tenet says saddam wasnt threat
Un finds empty warheads
Us backed iraqis provided questionable info
Whats he have
White house embraced disputed intelligence { October 3 2004 }
Wolfowitz says war about oil

Files Listed: 43



Correction/submissions

CIA FOIA Archive

National Security
Archives
Support one-state solution for Israel and Palestine Tea Party bumper stickers JFK for Dummies, The Assassination made simple