[Media-watch] Iraq, leaked documents and spin - various cuttings - 19/10/2004

[Julie-ann Davies]

Hi all,



I thought as there was quite a lot of material today it would be better to
send it as a selection of opening paragraphs and URLS. (Except the Telegraph
piece as that requires registration.)





Julie-ann



_________



http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=563396

UK ministers 'kept in dark' over abuses at Abu Ghraib
By Severin Carrell in London and Andrew Buncombe in Washington
19 September 2004

A senior British intelligence officer knew in January this year that Iraqi
prisoners at Abu Ghraib were allegedly being abused but failed to tell his
superiors, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

Colonel Chris Terrington, one of the highest-ranking British military
intelligence experts posted to Iraq, was told there was "one or more" secret
inquiries into alleged abuses at the infamous prison - four months before
Tony Blair and Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Defence, were
informed.

The scandal erupted in late April after now notorious photographs of
prisoners being sexually and physically abused by US guards were released,
provoking one of the worst crises of the Iraq conflict for the US and
British governments. It emerged that this was the first British politicians
knew of the scandal; Mr Hoon was later forced to admit that British
diplomats in Baghdad had learnt of the alleged abuses in February from a
report by the International Committee of the Red Cross, but withheld it from
ministers. [More . full text at URL.]



http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=563404

Blair told Bush he 'would not budge' in support for war
Leaked documents show a gulf between public statements on Iraq and private
talks with the White House. Francis Elliott reports
19 September 2004

Tony Blair privately promised George Bush he would not budge in his support
for "regime change" in Iraq more than a year before the invasion.

The Prime Minister was also told by an adviser he would have to "wrongfoot"
Saddam Hussein into providing an excuse to go to war, and that Mr Bush had
no answer to the question of "what happens the morning after".

An extraordinary cache of leaked documents this weekend forced Mr Blair to
deny that the planning for post-invasion Iraq had been inadequate. Amid a
deteriorating security situation in the country, Mr Blair blamed terrorists
for trying to stop the creation of a stable and democratic Iraq. But the
leak also lays bare the gulf between what Mr Blair and his aides said in
public about Iraq and their private discussions with the White House.
[More . full text at URL.]



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/19/wirq19.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/09/19/ixworld.html



We're back at war in Iraq, says general
By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 19/09/2004)

Gen Sir Mike Jackson, the head of the Army, has admitted that British troops
in Iraq are "back at war". He is the first authoritative figure to concede
that war is still being waged in Iraq, 16 months after President George W
Bush declared that combat operations were over.

In an interview with The Telegraph, the Chief of the General Staff said that
August had been a difficult month for soldiers serving in southern Iraq.

"Soldiers are now fighting a counter-insurgency war," said Sir Mike. "August
was a very busy month and British soldiers were involved in war fighting."

The general said that many of the terrorists were foreigners who had entered
Iraq through one of its many porous borders, and some were known to be
Syrians.

"The insurgents are made up of both indigenous and foreign fighters and
there is evidence that some of these terrorists are Syrians," he said.
"Iraq's borders are long and very open but, if more could be done to secure
borders, the security situation in Iraq would improve.

"The suicide bombers are unlikely to be Iraqi. Suicide is just not their
way, so there is evidence that the insurgents are being supported from
outside Iraq," said the general.

Although he admitted that the situation in Iraq was difficult, Sir Mike
denied that it was unresolvable, or that the British Army had been
unprepared to deal with internal security after regime change had been
achieved.

"I don't think we were caught out by this counter-insurgency war. From a
British dimension, the planning for post-war Iraq had allowed for a
less-than-benign atmosphere, so I don't think it is fair to say that we were
caught out or unprepared," he said.

Tony Blair last night sought to quash claims that he had been warned a year
before invading Iraq that the war could result in chaos and require large
numbers of troops for "many years".

The Prime Minister spoke out after leaked documents were published in The
Telegraph detailing a series of concerns expressed by Jack Straw and some of
the most senior officials in 10 Downing Street and Whitehall.

The Conservatives said the leak showed that Mr Blair had misled people in
claiming that a clear plan existed for dealing with the aftermath of war.

It threatened to mar talks between Mr Blair and the interim Iraqi Prime
Minister Iyad Allawi in Downing Street this week.

At Leeds Castle in Kent, after talks on the Northern Ireland peace process,
the Prime Minister insisted there had been a plan for the aftermath of war
and described Iraq as "the crucible" of the fight against terror.

"Having read in the papers that apparently I was warned of the chaos that
was going to ensue in Iraq, I actually got the minute Jack sent me. It
didn't do anything of the sort," Mr Blair said.