Compilation of information about the fraudulent dossier produced by Tony Blair, Prime Minister in January 2003
Stephen Hewitt, updated August 2017The fraudulent dossier, titled “IRAQ ITS INFRASTRUCTURE OF CONCEALMENT, DECEPTION AND INTIMIDATION”
The fraudulent government report was presented at http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page7111.asp . In 2017 there is no longer anything at this link, but the 2003 page is archived on archive.org
In February 2003 this page had a link to a PDF version of the report and a link to a Microsoft Word version, as follows.
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http://www.ukonline.gov.uk//Images/img213573.pdf
Clarion copy made on 19 February 2003 from http://www.ukonline.gov.uk//Images/img213573.pdf: fraudulent_document.pdf (209 Kbytes)
In 2017 this is also archived on archive.org.
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http://www.number-10.gov.uk/files/word/Iraq.doc
Clarion copy made on 19 February 2003 from http://www.number-10.gov.uk/files/word/Iraq.doc: fraudulent_document.doc (66 Kbytes)
Glen Rangwala's email revealing the true origins of the material and its distortion
Glen Rangwala's email to the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq (CASI), revealing the true origins of material in the document: http://www.casi.org.uk/discuss/2003/msg00457.html
Some of the sources that were plagiarised. These are taken from Glen Rangwala's email above:
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http://cns.miis.edu/research/iraq/pdfs/iraqint.pdf
In 2017 the paper is no longer at this link but can be found on archive.org
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http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2002/issue3/jv6n3a1.html
In 2017 the paper is no longer at this link but is archived on archive.org
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Glen Rangwala's email also points out articles from Jane's Intelligence Review that were plagiarised. Here is a comment from Janes archived on archive.org
Media reporting
Email from Sanjoy Mahajan on CASI discussion list giving details of press coverage on 7 February 2003 http://www.casi.org.uk/discuss/2003/msg00507.html
The Observer's gushing description of the report before it was exposed. “How Saddam hides illegal weapon sites Blair to reveal spy dossier of videos and phone taps”, Kamal Ahmed and Nick Paton Walsh, Observer, Sunday 2 February 2003 This article starts
Saddam Hussein is using an elaborate network of deception to frustrate the United Nations' weapons inspectors and conceal Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, according to new intelligence documents released by Downing Street.
Paragraph four starts with “The documents will make up a key plank of the evidence to be presented by Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, to the UN Security Council on Wednesday.”
Varsity - see Related pages below.
Initial observations in February 2003
In several hours searching on the web, I did not find a single report that gave the web address of the original email that Glen Rangwala posted to the CASI (Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq) discussion group, even though it is in a public archive.
Instead I had to resort to using google to search the CASI site, after reading where the email was in the Cambridge student newspaper Varsity (also with no link).
Secondly, regarding the Prime Minister and his reported apology for plagiarising copyrighted material, on 19 February 2003 the offending report still remained on the government website, with no warning, no acknowledgement of sources, and no apology, from where I took a copy of it on 19 February 2003.
Related
- Varsity article: 'Academic humiliates copy-cat government'Reggie Vettasseri, Varsity, 14 February 2003, page 2
- External article: 'US claims of VX nerve agent fall apart'Glen Rangwala, 16 March 2003
External links
- Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq email archive article: [casi] Intelligence? the British dossier on Iraq's security infrastructure Glen Rangwala, Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq email archive, 5 February 2003