Ex-Mi5 Chief: War on Iraq was Unjustified no threat to UK or involved in 9/11.

[Kompromat]

Iraq war was Unjustified.

Ex-MI5 chief slams war on Iraq - Europe - Al Jazeera English

The former head of British intelligence has criticised the US-led war in Iraq in a testimony before an inquiry panel in London.

Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller said that the war, which was launched in 2003, was not justified because Iraq had not posed a threat to the UK at the time.

She also said that Britain's involvement in Iraq invasion played into Osama Bin Laden's hands and radicalised British muslims.

Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee reports from London.


Ex-MI5 chief slams war on Iraq - Europe - Al Jazeera English




* Shame on Barbarian invaders.

 

[Kompromat]

Iraq war 'triggered UK bomb plots'

Britain's support for the war in Iraq was connected to a series of deadly bombings in London and sparked a rise in domestic attack plots that "swamped" security services, a former intelligence chief has said.

Eliza Manningham-Buller, director of the MI5 between 2002 and 2007, told a public inquiry in London on Tuesday that the 2003 invasion "undoubtedly increased the threat [of domestic attacks], and by 2004 we were pretty well swamped".

She said that the war had "radicalised a whole generation of young people," and that some British Muslims perceived the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan to be an attack on Islam.

Between 2001 and 2008, Britain investigated about 16 "substantial" domestic plots, of which about 12 were stopped, she told the hearing into the Iraq war.

In July 2005, four suicide bombers detonated bombs on London's transport network, killing 52 commuters and injuring hundreds more.

Video messages left by the attackers referred to Britain's role in Iraq.

'No link to 9/11'

Manningham-Buller told the five-member inquiry panel, appointed by Britain's government, that the decision to invade Iraq had also likely provided an impetus to al-Qaeda.

"Arguably we gave Osama bin Laden his Iraqi jihad, so that he was able to move into Iraq in a way that he was not before," she said.

By contrast, the former MI5 chief told the inquiry, Iraq had posed little threat to Britain in the years leading up to the war.

"We did not believe they had the capacity to do much in the UK," she said.

She added that there was a lack of evidence linking Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi leader, to the September 11 attacks in the US.

"There was no credible intelligence to suggest that connection and that was the judgment, I might say, of the CIA," she told the inquiry.

"It was not a judgment that found favor with some parts of the American machine.''

"It is why Donald Rumsfeld started an alternative intelligence unit in the Pentagon to seek an alternative judgment," Manningham-Buller, who was a frequent visitor to the US, said.

The inquiry, chaired by former civil servant John Chilcot, was set up last year by Brown to learn lessons from the war.

Previous probes have cleared the government of any wrongdoing.

Former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix is expected to appear before the inquiry in the coming weeks.

The inquiry is expected to conclude at the end of this year, but will not apportion blame or assign criminal liability for mistakes made.

Iraq war 'triggered UK bomb plots' - Europe - Al Jazeera English

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Yes he is correct.

The rationale for the Iraq war was primarily because of the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" claim... and also because of the "supposed" link between Iraq and 9/11.

Both of these reasons were LIES.

There were no WMD's found, and there were no links found to 9/11.

It's sad that so many innocent people in the Middle East had to die for George Bush and his lies.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

People also criticized Viet Nam war after 10-20 years so what ??

Change of administration , and no guilt , that is how it works when you have technology and weapons

 

[Peregrine]

hi
i wonder if CNN, BBC & FOX news will give any coverage to this news, her statements are a big blow to the insidious hypocrisy & double standards of west.

 

[amit27]

The war was about oil, Uk is now in a position to win lucrative oil tender contracts in Iraq so the aim has been achieved.

 

[Kompromat]

The war was about oil, Uk is now in a position to win lucrative oil tender contracts in Iraq so the aim has been achieved.

And what about the people they have Killed there ?

Shouldn't UK expect a backfire?

 

[amit27]

And what about the people they have Killed there ?

Shouldn't UK expect a backfire?

The majority British public were against the US led iraq invasion millions took part in the central london demonstration and demanded a referendumn on sending British troops.

The Labour party and in particular Tony blair paid the price to go aganist the wishes of the masses and there is now a public enquiry on the Iraq invasion.

The cold fact is that oil companies like BP, Haliburton etc needed to open up the 4th largest oil producing nation Iraq and together with the powers that be some call them the illuminati or neo-cons they tried to sell the idea to the public that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and we now know thats not true but the job is already done.

 

[x_man]

So the official version for going to Iraq was a lie !!!! What a surprise for all of us here ...

God knows which other official stories presented to us by the Western media are also lie ? Perhaps all of them...

Did no one think that an unprovoked western attack on a sovereign Arab state was inevitably going to upset many moderate Muslims as well .

It's particularly notable that after 7/7 Tony Blair refused to let the Police investigate any potential British source for the incident - and sent the Police to Pakistan to find the culprits there. He emphatically denied that 7/7 was linked to British policy in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Can we now hope to see Blair jailed for obstructing the course of justice? ??

After millions of innocent dead, Blair,Bush and their cronies probably think that they have made the world a much safer place and they can now sleep well

 

[amit27]

you think we wanted this war? who u think is paying for this war the public of course the goverment just hike taxes and now the economy is fcked i wish saddam hussain still was in charge he had a grip on things in Iraq.