People were ‘misled’

Lord Butler, author of the 2004 report into the WMD intelligence, says the British public was misled in regards to the still ongoing war in Iraq. In late 1999 an Iraqi engineer arrived in Germany to seek asylum. The man, code-named Curveball, gave the German intelligence service BND detailed information on weapons of mass destruction which Saddam Hussein would have. I wrote about Curveball a year ago on my blog (ARTICLE). On March 18th the ever brilliant BBC One Panorama series returned with The Spies Who Fooled the World. On the eve of the 10th anniversary of one of the most contentious and divisive wars in living memory, one of my personal favorite journalist Peter Taylor forensically investigates how key aspects of the secret intelligence used by Downing Street and the White House to justify the invasion of Iraq, were based on fabrication, wishful thinking and lies. Directed by Mike Rudin. Watch full doc. here! (VIDEO) (guardian) “The Iraq war’s greatest legacy might be the opportunity it presents for the general public to demand a standard of transparency and accountability that policymakers must meet before they can waste trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives while violating the Constitution. It’s the least we can do for our democracy”. An incredible strong summary by program director Peter Lems from American Friends Service Committee. I know you tried to prevent this war, Mr. R. Branson (ARTICLE). And we will be for ever thankful for at least trying……photo copyright BBC One Panorama)