The BBC reported, solemnly, this afternoon that “Ex-spy chief Sir John Scarlett has told the Iraq war inquiry there was “no conscious intention” to manipulate information about Iraq’s weapons. He denied being under pressure to “firm up” the September 2002 dossier which contained the claim Iraq could use WMD within 45 minutes of Saddam’s order.” BBC
Unfortunately The real life ‘M’ was not asked about claims that British Intelligence on WMD at the time of the Iraq war came from a taxi driver on the Iraq Jordanian border – so we are none the wiser on that issue, as yet.
Paul Waugh, writing on his Evening Standard blog has a most interesting development
Waugh writes: “I posted first thing today on Adam Holloway’s extraordinary claims* about an Iraqi taxi driver being the source for British intel on Saddam. I pointed out that Adam seemed unclear about exactly what the cabbie had overheard. The MP told me that it was more about long-range missiles that could target Cyprus. He wasn’t sure that the cabbie had heard anything about the separate 45-minutes minutes claim.”
It seems that Mr Holloway MP amended his original piece. Whether he did this to sex it or sex it up no-one is sure. The FT has now got in on the Act. Waugh reports… ” FOOTNOTE* It gets weirder. The FT’s Alex Barker prompted the thought that the cabbie in question may even have been “Curveball”, the flaky fantasist who also duped the US on WMD.”
Wonderful stuff… I may go out and buy myself a James Bond T-shirt. I don’t, after all, want to be left out. I watched the Iraq Inquiry this afternoon, as it happens. Ex-Chief Spook, Sir John Scarlett, looked very much the part, I thought….. for a Bond movie… close cropped bald head, piercing eyes, clipped voice, precise diction, measured tone… a superb Bond villain… I may have had too many pain killers.
***
Editor: Post edited 6.00 with picture to sex it up.
.
Great post. Lots of sexing up. Well done. I always wondered what was meant by “The Knowledge” in cabbie circles and now I understand at last.
Have you read any cabbie research on Global Warming by any chance?