Discuss this article on First Drafts, Prospect’s blog
Five years after the invasion of Iraq, what do we know about those weapons of mass destruction whose shadowy existence played such a large role in the justification for war and such a controversial role in its aftermath? It is a story that remains significant largely because the reconstruction of Iraq has been so much bloodier, more chaotic and politically damaging—both in the middle east and the west—than was dreamt of in 2003. “There were no WMDs” seems likely to be the enduring epitaph of both a two-term president and a three-term prime minister. Their absence is, for many, emblematic of the gulf between the realities of the middle east and the ill-planned optimism with which western powers entered Iraq in March 2003. Yet the story of the search for WMD is more than simply a catalogue of intelligence errors and political manipulation; it has also become a story of competing narratives about middle eastern power politics, and the deepest global security concerns we face today.
On 20th March 2003, Iraq was invaded by a US-led coalition of forces, which included British, Australian, Polish and Danish troops. “Operation Iraqi Freedom” intended, in the words of President George W Bush, “to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people.” In Britain, particular emphasis was put on the first of these aims. The British government’s infamous Iraq dossier was published on 24th September 2002, and opened with a personal statement by Tony Blair which claimed that “Saddam Hussein attaches great importance to possessing weapons of mass destruction, which he regards as the basis for Iraq’s regional power… He is ready to use them, including against his own population, and is determined to retain them, in breach of UN security council resolutions… As a result of the intelligence, we judge that Iraq has: continued to produce chemical and biological agents; military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, including against its own Shia population. Some of these weapons are deployable within 45 minutes of an order to use them.” These claims lie at the heart of one of the greatest continuing intelligence controversies in modern history.
Official investigations
If you are a subscriber, please log in »
This article is available to subscribers only
Subscribing to Prospect is the most reliable and convenient way to receive the magazine every month, and offers the best value.Subscription Types:
Online
An online subscription offers you complete and unlimited access to the entire website, including our searchable archive of every back issue of Prospect, and a PDF edition of each new issue: all this for just £20 per year. Purchase an online subscription »Renewal
Renew an existing subscription »Institutional access
If you are a library, business organisation or any other large institution that needs a multi-user licence, you can obtain institutional access.
Share
Subscribe to post comments
Print
