September 24, 2002
Prime Minister Tony Blair has warned of the urgent need to act after the publication of the UK's long awaited dossier of evidence against Iraq.
Mr Blair said the 50-page report, based on intelligence and United Nations inspectors' reports, showed Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programme was "active, detailed and growing".
The dossier claims Iraq has:
* Continued to produce chemical and biological agents.
* Drawn up military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons.
* Tried to acquire from Africa material and technology for the production of nuclear weapons.
* Illegally retained up to 20 al-Hussein missiles with a range of 650km, capable of carrying chemical or biological warheads.
* Begun developing ballistic missiles with a range of more than 1,000km.
* Learnt how to conceal equipment and documentation from weapons inspectors
Mr Blair told an emergency session of the UK Parliament: "Our case is simply this - not that we take military action come what may, but that the case for ensuring Iraqi disarmament as the UN has stipulated is overwhelming.
"I defy anyone on the basis of this evidence to say that is an unreasonable demand for the international community to make."
The Iraqi Culture Minister, Yousif Hummadi, told a news conference in Baghdad that the dossier was "baseless".
Mr Hummadi accused Mr Blair of taking part in what he called a Zionist campaign against Iraq.
Dossier at-a-glance
Overview
* Iraq holds weapons of mass destruction in breach of international law
* Saddam Hussein believes weapons of mass destruction are the basis of Iraq's power in the Middle East
* He does not see them as a last resort
* Illicit weapons programmes continue despite UN sanctions
Nuclear weapons
* Iraq has attempted to acquire "significant quantities" of uranium from Africa
* Has called on nuclear specialists to work on programme
* Covert attempts made to acquire nuclear weapons technology
* Iraq may be able to assemble nuclear weapons "within months of obtaining fissile material"
Chemical and biological weapons
* Iraq has military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons against its own people
* Mobile laboratories have been made for military use
* Some weapons can be deployed within 45 minutes
* Command and control arrangements are in place for chemical and biological weapons
* Illegal methods have been used to acquire material for these weapons
Missile programmes
* Illegally possess 20 al-Hussein missiles
* Working on plans to extend missile range beyond limit set by UN
* Used illegal means to procure materials for missile programme
Funding
* Chemical, biological, nuclear and ballistic missile programmes are "well funded"
* Iraq generates income outside the control of the UN to an estimated $3billion in 2002
* Illicit earnings are used to maintain Iraq's armed forces and to develop or acquire military equipment including chemical, biological, nuclear and ballistic programmes
* Illicit earnings have increased from around $1bn in 1999 to $3bn in 2002
Iraq under Saddam Hussein
* Patronage and violence used to motivate supporters and eliminate opposition
* Torture execution and coercion used against enemies
* Iraqi Kurds have been persecuted, and attacked with chemical weapons
* Executions carried out without due process of law
* Women prisoners at Mahjar are routinely raped by guards
* Prisoners at Qurtiyya Prison left in metal boxes to die if they do not confess
* Penalties for criminal offences include: amputation, branding, cutting off ears and mutilation.
UN weapons inspections
* April 1991 first resolutions passed to enable UN to dismantle Iraq's nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programmes
* These programmes were in contravention of Iraq's treaty commitments
* Iraq has "persistently" obstructed UN weapons inspectors
* It has been state policy to retain all weapons programmes despite agreements to do otherwise
* Weapons inspectors banned from going to eight "presidential" sites
* Iraq has admitted to having a system for hiding proscribed material from inspectors
* Forged documents used to account for proscribed materials for the growth of anthrax and botulinum toxin
Iraqi missile ranges according to Blair's dossier:
1. Al-Samoud - 150 km
2. Ababil - 150 km
3. Al Hussein - 650km
4. Al Abbas - 900km *
5. Planned MRBM - 1,200 km *
* Project active pre-Gulf War; could be retrieved.
The Iraq Dossier in full
The dossier is part of the build-up of pressure which includes a new United Nations resolution "within days" calling for Iraq to re-admit weapons inspectors and abandon any weapons of mass destruction.
I believe this issue to be a current and serious threat to the UK national interest - Tony Blair
US President George Bush has said it would be a resolution "to disarm Saddam Hussein... before he threatens civilisation".
Writing in the dossier's foreword, Mr Blair says: "It is unprecedented for the government to publish this kind of document.
"But in the light of the debate about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction I wanted to share with the British public the reasons why I believe this issue to be a current and serious threat to the UK national interest."
He says he has become "increasingly alarmed" in recent months by the evidence from inside Iraq that... "Saddam Hussein is continuing to develop WMD, and with them the ability to inflict real damage upon the region and the stability of the world".
Mr Blair claims that, despite sanctions, the "policy of containment" employed towards Iraq has not worked.
He said weapons inspectors must be allowed back in to Iraq "to do their job properly" and if Saddam refuses, the international community "will have to act".
The dossier's publication came as former US presidential candidate Al Gore accused President Bush of squandering the good will of the world towards America.
UK debate
The UK Parliament began its emergency one day session at 1130 BST (1030 GMT), with backbench Labour rebels planning to force a vote to voice their opposition to a possible war.
Labour's former defence minister Peter Kilfoyle said the government's dossier was full of "unsubstantiated" allegations.
Cabinet ministers such as Commons Leader Robin Cook, Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett and International Development Secretary Clare Short were thought to have grave concerns about possible armed action.
Mr Blair's statement was welcomed by Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, who told MPs Saddam Hussein "has had ten years of second chances. Now surely is the time to act".
But Charles Kennedy, for the Liberal Democrats, said the emphasis should be on getting UN weapons inspectors back into Iraq.
It was a matter of "deep concern" that the US may not share this view, he added.
The Commons debate comes as an ICM poll for the Guardian newspaper suggests 37% of Britons would support military action, with 46% against and 18% undecided.
Iraq was a major issue in the German election after Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder voiced emphatic opposition to military action - upsetting US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who said it had "poisoned" relations between the two countries.
Tony Blair is due to visit Moscow in October to try to persuade President Vladimir Putin to support the American and British position on Iraq.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2277352.stm