Early Iraq dossier draft reveals 45-minute claim absence
David Kelly's suicide triggered the Hutton inquiry
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Monday, 18, Feb 2008 08:05
The government has been forced to publish an early draft of the 2002 intelligence dossier used to justify the invasion of Iraq.
An information tribunal had ruled last month the draft needed to be seen because the Hutton inquiry, which investigated the death of weapons expert David Kelly, should not be seen as the "final word on the subject".
The early draft, written by communications director John Williams, does not contain a mention of the 45-minute weapons of mass destruction deployment claim which featured in the version presented to parliament in September 2002.
However it does claim Saddam Hussein possessed "stocks of chemical and biological agents" and that Iraq was "actively assembling an arsenal of terror weapons".
The government has opposed the publication of the draft, saying it compromises the ability of civil servants to write confidential reports.
"Officials and others who draft policy documents should not feel constrained in presenting free and frank advice through fear that their ideas will be made public," foreign secretary David Miliband said in a statement.