Half-truths used to justify war, says Short

In damaging testimonies to MPs yesterday, Clare Short and Robin Cook questioned the extent of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction programme as portrayed by the Prime Minister in the run-up to the Iraq war. Both the former ministers, who resigned in protest at the conflict and its aftermath, claimed that during their time in Cabinet they had been told by the security services that Iraq posed no imminent threat to Britain.

Ms Short also launched an attack on the integrity of No10, saying the Prime Minister was guilty of an "honourable deception" and had employed a "series of half truths, exaggerations and reassurances" to convince the country of the necessity of military action.

Her allegations were backed by Mr Cook, who forensically set out how Downing Street could have cherry-picked intelligence material to exaggerate the case against Saddam.

Giving evidence to the Commons foreign affairs select committee, Mr Cook said MI6 had told him in a personal briefing that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction "in terms of a credible device capable of being delivered against a strategic target".

He added: "It’s plain from what we now know he [Saddam] did not pose a significant threat. It is therefore a grievous error of policy to have gone to war on the assumption he was."

The sceptism was echoed by Ms Short, who claimed that as international development secretary she saw "raw" intelligence data on a daily basis, none of which suggested Saddam was an "immediate threat".

Outlining how Mr Blair softened up the public in preparation for war, Ms Short said: "It’s a series of half truths, exaggerations and reassurances that weren’t the case to get us into conflict by the spring, and that commitment had been made the previous summer."