Army officer reveals how obsession with WMD led to Iraq blunder…(We’re Gonna Need More Rope…)
BRITISH officials were under so much pressure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that they embarrassed their US colleagues by insisting that medical chemicals were deadly weapons of war.
By MARCO GIANNANGELI
Express.co.uk
Sun, Jul 10, 2016
Lieutenant Colonel David Reynolds, of the Parachute Regiment, was in Afghanistan in 2002 helping the hunt for Osama Bin Laden when he learned that plans for the invasion of Saddam Hussein’s fiefdom were being drawn up.
He was switched to take part. Weapons of mass destruction quickly became the main focus because without them the case for military action seemed weak, Lt Col Reynolds said.
Speaking in the wake of the damning Chilcot report, he said: “There was huge pressure in the middle of 2002 to focus on Iraq. When we got in, all London wanted to know was where were the weapons of mass destruction.
“We had just arrived in Afghanistan and were now about to start a second major operation that would stretch resources.
“At first the reasons for invading seemed weak but then the intelligence claim of WMD changed everyone’s thinking amid the fear that Saddam might use them to strike at the West.”
The Rest…HERE
