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London, Tuesday, April 20, 2004 CIA 'rejected'
Iraq dossier 45-minute claim From Roland Watson
in Washington THE CIA warned British spy
chiefs against using the "45-minute" claim in the
infamous Downing Street dossier on Iraqi weapons of
mass destruction, because they regarded it as
flawed.  George
Tenet, the CIA Director, was dismissive of the
allegation, referring to it as the
"they-can-attack-in-45-minutes s**t".
Mr Tenet believed that the source for MI6's
claim was questionable. He also assumed, correctly,
it later emerged, that the claim was misleading
because it referred to battlefield munitions, not
ballistic missiles. The account is made in an authoritative new book
of the Iraq war that is causing trouble for the
Bush Administration and many of its senior figures.
The book threatens to do the same with the most
exhaustively examined and enormously consequential
aspect of Tony Blair's case for war.
President Bush referred to the 45-minute claim in
the White House Rose Garden on September 26, 2002,
the day after the Prime Minister presented his
dossier to Parliament. He said: "According to the British Government,
the Iraqi regime could launch a biological or
chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes after
the orders were given." The author of the book, Bob Woodward, the
veteran Washington Post reporter, wrote: "Tenet and the CIA had warned the
British not to make that allegation, which was
based on a questionable source and almost
certainly referred to battlefield weapons, not
ones that Iraq could launch at neighbouring
countries, let alone American cities." Mr Bush mentioned the 45-minute claim two days
later in his weekly radio address, but subsequently
dropped all mention of it. In Britain, press and
public alike assumed that the dossier referred to
Iraqi missiles that could threaten Europe.
Ministers chose not to correct that impression. Mr
Blair said that he had never sought to clarify the
claim because he, too, had assumed that it referred
to long-range missiles when he made the case to the
Commons. 
MR BUSH quoted British Intelligence on another
controversial occasion. In his 2003 State of the
Union address, he said that Saddam had tried to buy
uranium from Africa, using the British Government
as his source. The CIA had previously advised the
White House not to use the claim, which they
believed was discredited, and Mr Bush's officials
had to apologise for including it.
For his book, Plan of Attack, Mr Woodward
was given access to all the key US war players. Mr
Bush gave him more than three hours of interviews.
Other members of the war Cabinet, which included Mr
Tenet, were encouraged by Mr Bush's aides to
co-operate with the author. However, the book has spawned uncomfortable
headlines for the White House. Senior officials
have had to explain why Prince Bandar bin
Sultan, the Saudi Ambassador to the US, was
told that Mr Bush had decided to go to war before
the President had told Colin Powell, his
doveish Secretary of State. The White House and Saudi Arabia have both
denied that they had done a secret deal for Riyadh
to increase oil production and lower petrol prices
in time to help Mr Bush in the presidential
election in November. Yet Mr Bush emerged well
placed in his impending battle with John
Kerry in a series of polls. Despite three weeks
of relentlessly bad publicity, Mr Bush has
strengthened his position against his Democratic
rival. In a Gallup poll he leads Mr Kerry 50 per
cent to 44 per cent. Copyright 2004 Times
Newspapers Ltd. 
David
Irving's comments on the qualities of George
Tenet
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