Ex-MI5 chief admits Iraq was no threat

Paddy McGuffin, Home Affairs Reporter

Iraq posed no threat when Tony Blair led the country into war in 2003, Britain’s former top spy admitted at the weekend.

Former MI5 boss Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller made the comment in an interview with the Radio Times before the broadcast of a series of BBC lectures this week.

It is not the first time that the former MI5 chief has spoken out about the conflict.

In evidence to the Chilcot inquiry in 2010 she said she had warned senior government figures that the war had the potential to increase radicalism at home and abroad.

The invasion of Iraq “undoubtedly” increased the terrorist threat in Britain, she said.

In her most recent interview, she said: “Iraq did not present a threat to the UK.

“The service advised that it [the war] was likely to increase the domestic threat and that it was a distraction from the pursuit of al-Qaida.”

She added that it was “for others to decide” whether the war was a mistake.

“Intelligence isn’t complete without the full picture and the full picture is all about doubt. Otherwise, you go the way of George Bush.”

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German said: “It may well be that, in advance of Chilcot, which is due to publish its findings in the autumn, various people are distancing themselves from the decision to go to war.

“I’m glad she has said what she has as it is a vindication of the anti-war campaign but the decision to go to war was a failure not just of Blair but the whole Establishment including the security services and Parliament itself.

“There was no serious attempt by any of them to stop Blair. The only attempt came from the streets.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Ms Manningham-Buller defended MI5 against suggestions that it could have prevented the July 7 bombings.

“In intelligence, you can know of someone, without knowing exactly what they are going to do.

“The next time there is an attack, the same could be true – though I hope it won’t be.”

Regarding the likelihood of further bombings in Britain in the future, she said: “I assume there will be. This isn’t a ‘war’ you win in a military sense, and you can’t anticipate everything.”

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www.morningstaronline.co.uk, 28 August 2011