Australian Expert to Expose Iraqi Weapons 'Exaggeration'
The Associated Press

Monday 16 June 2003

A former Australian defence analyst who resigned in March claiming the 
government was exaggerating the Iraqi threat is to appear before British 
MPs investigating intelligence on Baghdad's weapons programmes.  

Andrew Wilkie is a former army officer who worked at Australia's Office 
of National Assessments, which provides intelligence evaluations for the 
government in Canberra.  

He quit in protest over the case Prime Minister John Howard made to 
the public for going to war in Iraq without a United Nations mandate.  

Mr Howard backed US and British claims that Iraq had weapons of 
mass destruction and links to the al-Qaida terror network. He sent 
2,000 Australian troops to the war that toppled the Iraqi regime.  

After resigning, Mr Wilkie argued that intelligence available to Australia 
suggested Iraq did not pose a serious threat to the United States and 
its allies. He also claimed the war would only fuel terrorist fervour 
for more attacks on the West.  

Wilkie told The Sydney Morning Herald he would expose the 
government's "exaggeration" of intelligence on weapons of mass 
destruction and "concoction" of links between former Iraqi president 
Saddam Hussein and terrorists in his appearance at the inquiry.  

"The claim was obviously false. There is no doubt that Iraq did have 
weapons at one time and something will eventually be found and 
dressed up as justification, but it won't be anything of the magnitude 
we were led to believe," Wilkie said.  

He was speaking at Sydney airport before flying to London to appear 
before the inquiry this week.  

Iraq's alleged nuclear programme and cache of chemical and biological 
weapons was the prime justification used by the US and its allies for 
going to war in Iraq. So far, troops investigating suspected weapons 
sites in Iraq have returned empty handed.  

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is 
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest 
in receiving the included information for research and educational 
purposes.)  
 
(c) : t r u t h o u t 2003

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Source: Truthout - http://truthout.org/docs_03/061703J.shtml

Cheers, Steve..

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