A British government dossier intended to show how Iraq is obstructing of UN weapons inspectors via an 鈥渋nfrastructure of concealment, deception and intimidation鈥� has been revealed to have lifted significant sections from academic papers.
The document was issued by the UK in January 2003 and described as drawing 鈥渦pon a number of sources, including intelligence material鈥�. It aims to demonstrate 鈥渉ow the Iraqi regime is constructed to have, and to keep, weapons of mass destruction鈥�.
But a number of pages of the document were copied virtually word for word from a paper published in the journal Middle East Review of International Affairs in September 2002. This was written by Ibrahim al-Marashi, an academic at the Centre for Non-proliferation Studies in California in the US.
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Further sections of the dossier were copied from articles written by Sean Boyne and Ken Gause that appeared in the military journal Jane鈥檚 Intelligence Review in 1997 and 2002.
鈥淪candalous鈥� revelation
Military analysts and opposition politicians in the UK have described the copying as 鈥渟candalous鈥�, saying the dossier was presented as being the product of the very latest government intelligence.
But the government has responded by arguing that the most important point is that it is accurate, with all facts having been checked against intelligence reports.
The revelation is particularly embarrassing as US Secretary of State Colin Powell gave special mention to the dossier in a key presentation of evidence against Iraq at the UN Security Council on Wednesday.
鈥淚 would call my colleagues attention to the fine paper that the United Kingdom distributed, which describes in exquisite detail Iraqi deception activities,鈥� he said.
快猫短视频 interviewed
One of Powell鈥檚 main charges was that Iraq was in breach of UN resolution 1441 by preventing scientists working in their weapons programmes from being interviewed by UN weapons inspectors without the presence of an Iraqi government minder.
Iraq claimed the scientists themselves were unwilling to meet inspectors alone, but the US countered that this was because the scientists had been threatened with death. However, on Thursday, Iraq backed down and offered one scientist to be interviewed without accompaniment. Sinan Abdul Hassan, who was involved with the country鈥檚 biological weapons program, was interviewed by UN inspectors at a hotel in Baghdad for over three hours.
An unnamed UN official told The New York Times: 鈥淭he importance of this particular interview is they finally started giving in on something under the pressure that was put on them. We don鈥檛 know if this is just one attempt and after this we will get stuck again or this is a precedent.鈥�