واضح آرشیو وب فارسی:ايرنا: UK government ordered to release more papers on Iraq war
UK-Iraq War
The British government has been ordered to publish previously undisclosed documents on its controversial dossier about Iraq"s weapons threat that was used to justify the US- led invasion in 2003.
In a new ruling, Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said that he was ""not satisfied" that all comments on the draft dossier, published in September 2002, constituted a threat to national security.
Thomas told civil servants in the Cabinet Office to release material which could provide "evidence that the dossier was deliberately manipulated in order to present an exaggerated case for military action."
The move comes after repeated requests made under the Freedom of Information Act by Chris Ames, an investigative journalist who works for the Independent newspaper. His requests had previously been turned down on the grounds of the protection of national security.
The government"s case for the war was set out in the dossier about Saddam Hussein"s weapons capabilities, which was claimed to have been written by the intelligence services.
But the controversy that has raged since no weapons were found is that the threat was deliberately exaggerated by ministers and civil servants to justify the sending of British troops to join the invasion in March 2003.
The Independent Thursday said that the prospect of a return to the debate over the dossier, which led to a furious row between the BBC and the government, the death of former Iraq weapons inspector David Kelly and the subsequent inquiry will "horrify ministers." The inquiry found that Kelly, accused of being the whistleblower, committed suicide in July 2003 but doubt still linger about the circumstances of his death.
Ames, who has campaigned for three years for the release, believes the Government is withholding key information about its case for the war.
"The commissioner has laid bare the government"s farcical cover- up, which included shamelessly playing the national security card.
He has also given a strong hint that the government has concealed evidence of sexing-up to save political embarrassment," he said.
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[ارسال شده از: ايرنا]
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