Tony Bliar

From The Times

MI6 told Tony Blair before the invasion of Iraq that a high-placed Iraqi source said that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction.

The report stated that according to Mr Habbush, the head of Iraqi Intelligence , Saddam had ended his nuclear programme in 1991 — the same year that he destroyed his chemical weapons programme — and ended his biological weapons programme in 1996. These assertions turned out to be true.

MI6 had sent one of its top agents, Michael Shipster, to the region. Mr Shipster held secret meetings in Jordan with Tahir Jalil Habbush . The meetings were confirmed by Nigel Inkster, former assistant director of MI6. Mr Inkster also confirmed that Mr Shipster was told by Mr Habbush that there were no illicit weapons in Iraq. Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of British Intelligence , confirmed the Shipster meetings and report.

So contrary to his weasel words that all the intelligence indicated that Saddam was a threat , Blair knew WMD did not exist .