Former head of Britain’s MI5 agency testifies about disjointed intelligence before Iraq war
By APTuesday, July 20, 2010
Former head of MI5 testifies at Iraq inquiry
LONDON — The former head of Britain’s domestic spy agency, MI5, says the intelligence picture before the Iraq war was fragmentary.
Eliza Manningham-Buller was testifying Tuesday before Britain’s inquiry into the conflict as documents were released that showed MI5 believed Saddam Hussein had a limited ability to mount terrorist attacks in the U.K. before the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
She says MI5 believed Saddam would only use chemical or biological weapons against Western targets “if he felt the survival of his regime was in doubt,” but that his preferred option would have been conventional weapons against regional targets, rather than terrorism.
The inquiry won’t apportion blame or assign criminal liability, but will issue a report later this year.
