British spy chief asked experts to harden Iraqi WMD report
AFP, London
The new head of Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6 tried to persuade weapons inspectors in Iraq to harden up a report on their search for weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), a British newspaper reported yesterday. According to the Mail on Sunday, John Scarlett sent a confidential email to the head of the Iraqi Survey Group (ISG) on March 8 this year with a list of 10 claims, which had already been shown to be untrue, for possible inclusion in the report. At the time Scarlett, who takes up the top job at MI6 this week, was chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, which co-ordinates Britain's spying efforts. The 10 "golden nuggets" suggested by Scarlett included claims that Iraq had a secret smallpox programme, that Iraq had developed mobile chemical weapons laboratories and that the country possessed or was building a "rail gun" for use in nuclear weapons research, according to the Mail on Sunday.
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