THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF AMERICAN BASES

The secret cabal which spun for Blair

Investigation: By Neil Mackay
08 June 2003 UK Herald

BRITAIN ran a covert 'dirty tricks' operation designed specifically to
produce misleading intelligence that Saddam had weapons of mass
destruction to give the UK a justifiable excuse to wage war on Iraq.

Operation Rockingham, established by the Defence Intelligence Staff
within the Ministry of Defence in 1991, was set up to 'cherry-pick'
intelligence proving an active Iraqi WMD programme and to ignore and
quash intelligence which indicated that Saddam's stockpiles had been
destroyed or wound down.

The existence of Operation Rockingham has been confirmed by Scott
Ritter, the former UN chief weapons inspector, and a US military
intelligence officer. He knew members of the Operation Rockingham team and described the unit as 'dangerous', but insisted they were not 'rogue
agents' acting without government backing. 'This policy was coming from
the very highest levels,' he added.

'Rockingham was spinning reports and emphasising reports that showed
non-compliance (by Iraq with UN inspections) and quashing those which
showed compliance. It was cherry-picking intelligence.'

Ritter and other intelligence sources say Operation Rockingham and MI6
were supplying skewed information to the Joint Intelligence Committee
(JIC) which, Tony Blair has told the Commons, was behind the
intelligence dossiers that the government published to convince the
parliament and the people of the necessity of war against Iraq. Sources
in both the British and US intelligence community are now equating the
JIC with the Office of Special Plans (OSP) in the US Pentagon. The OSP
was set up by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to gather intelligence
which would prove the case for war. In a staggering attack on the OSP,
former CIA officer Larry Johnson told the Sunday Herald the OSP was
'dangerous for US national security and a threat to world peace', adding
that it 'lied and manipulated intelligence to further its agenda of
removing Saddam'.

He added: 'It's a group of ideologues with pre-determined notions of
truth and reality. They take bits of intelligence to support their
agenda and ignore anything contrary. They should be eliminated.'

Johnson said that to describe Saddam as an 'imminent threat' to the West
was 'laughable and idiotic'. He said many CIA officers were in 'great
distress' over the way intelligence had been treated. 'We've entered the
world of George Orwell,' Johnson added. 'I'm disgusted. The truth has to
be told. We can't allow our leaders to use bogus information to justify
war.'

Many in British intelligence believe the planned parliamentary inquiry
by MPs on the Intelligence and Security Committee will pass the blame
for the use of selective intelligence to the JIC, which includes senior
intelligence figures .

Intelligence sources say this would be unfair as they claim the JIC was
following political instructions. Blair has been under sustained
criticism following allegations that intelligence on the threat from
Iraq was 'sexed up' to make it more appealing to the public.

The rebel Labour MP and Father of the House, Tam Dalyell, said he would raise the Sunday Herald's investigation into Operation Rockingham in the Commons on Thursday and demand an explanation from the government about selective intelligence. Ritter has also offered to give evidence to parliament.

Both the MoD and Downing Street refused to comment on Ritter's
allegations about Operation Rockingham, saying they did not make
statements on intelligence matters.

British and American intelligence analysts have also come forward to
dispute claims made by President Bush that two military trailers found
in Iraq were bio-weapons labs.