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Spy chief Sir John Scarlett is being questioned about intelligence on Iraq after claims a taxi driver was the source for the most infamous claim. The man who drew up the September 2002 dossier, which said Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes, is facing the Chilcot inquiry.
Ministers withdrew the 45-minute claim after the war but said they acted in good faith.
It was at the heart of the row between the government and the BBC which culminated in the death of government weapons expert Dr David Kelly.
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Despite this glaring factual inaccuracy... the report was characterised as reliable 
Adam Holloway MP
Mr Holloway, the MP for Gravesham and a former officer in the Grenadier Guards, published his paper The Failure of British Political and Military Leadership through First Defence, the centre-right think-tank he chairs.
In it, he said the claim that Saddam could launch weapons of mass destruction in 45-minutes arose as British intelligence were "squeezing" agents in Iraq for information, under pressure from Downing Street to back up its case that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
"The provenance of this information was never questioned in detail until after the Iraq invasion, when it became apparent that something was wrong," he said.
"In the end it turned out that the information was not credible, it had originated from an emigre taxi driver on the Iraqi-Jordanian border, who had remembered an overheard conversation in the back of his cab a full two years earlier."
before you know it they will be giving opinions on Football, the olympics, strictly, X Factor and the best place for a lock in.................
cheeRS
Ministers withdrew the 45-minute claim after the war but said they acted in good faith.
It was at the heart of the row between the government and the BBC which culminated in the death of government weapons expert Dr David Kelly.
.
Despite this glaring factual inaccuracy... the report was characterised as reliable Adam Holloway MP
Mr Holloway, the MP for Gravesham and a former officer in the Grenadier Guards, published his paper The Failure of British Political and Military Leadership through First Defence, the centre-right think-tank he chairs.
In it, he said the claim that Saddam could launch weapons of mass destruction in 45-minutes arose as British intelligence were "squeezing" agents in Iraq for information, under pressure from Downing Street to back up its case that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
"The provenance of this information was never questioned in detail until after the Iraq invasion, when it became apparent that something was wrong," he said.
"In the end it turned out that the information was not credible, it had originated from an emigre taxi driver on the Iraqi-Jordanian border, who had remembered an overheard conversation in the back of his cab a full two years earlier."
before you know it they will be giving opinions on Football, the olympics, strictly, X Factor and the best place for a lock in.................
cheeRS
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