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Powell doubted Iraqi arms intelligence?

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON MAY 31. Doubts over the veracity of British and American intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction deepened today after it was reported that the British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, and his U.S. counterpart, Colin Powell, themselves doubted the `quality' of information given to them to justify a military attack on Iraq, and feared that one day it might all "explode in their faces''.

The almost prophetic remark, attributed to Gen. Powell, was reportedly made at a meeting he had with Mr. Straw at the Waldorf Hotel in New York, shortly before the crucial U.N. Security Council meeting in February, still remembered for Gen. Powell's forensic presentation of the `evidence' about Iraq's deadly arsenal.

The leaked transcript of the Straw-Powell meeting, dubbed the "Waldorf transcripts'', reportedly reveal that both were `apprehensive' that much of the intelligence was not backed by hard evidence and was at best `circumstantial'.

The Guardian, which made the disclosure in a front-page lead story today, said that the transcripts were being "circulated in NATO diplomatic circles'' and appeared to have been leaked by countries which believed that they were misled into supporting the invasion of Iraq on the strength of exaggerated intelligence.

``The transcripts will fuel the controversy in Britain and the U.S. over claims that London and Washington distorted and exaggerated the intelligence assessments about Saddam's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programme,'' the newspaper said.

The Foreign Office, however, dismissed the report and insisted that Mr. Straw had "always been clear of the strength of the evidence'' against Iraq.

It denied that any such meeting had taken place. The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, whose office has been accused of "toughening up'' intelligence reports to make them sound more alarming, angrily rejected the allegation as `absurd'.

Calls for an inquiry into the way intelligence was handled to make a case for war increased after the BBC quoted an intelligence official as saying that the Prime Minister's office rewrote a dossier to reflect its own perception.

The most controversial Government claim that Mr. Hussein could activate his weapons in 45 minutes-a claim which led many MPs to support the war-was not in the original dossier, according to the source quoted by the BBC.

``It was included in the dossier against our wishes because it was not reliable,'' he said.

The unease that the Government hyped up the threat from Iraq grew as the Defence Minister, Adam Ingram, admitted that the claim about Baghdad's "45-minute'' capability was "single-sourced and not corroborated''.

Intelligence agencies insist on double-sourcing before declaring any information sufficiently reliable.

But Mr. Blair insists that there was no interference from Downing Street.

"The idea that we authorised or made our intelligence agencies invent some pieces of evidence is completely absurd,'' he said and maintained that the weapons would be found.

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