IOL - 'Israel knew Iraq had no nuclear weapons'
Jerusalem - A government critic said on Tuesday that Israel was aware before the war against Iraq that Saddam Hussein did not possess weapons of mass destruction, but Israel did not inform the United States.
Israel put itself on war footing before the US invasion last year, passing out gas mask kits to its citizens and then ordering them to open the kits, a step that eventually will cost millions, since components would have to be replaced.
But lawmaker Yossi Sarid, a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, said on Tuesday that Israeli intelligence knew beforehand that Iraq had no weapons stockpiles and misled US President George Bush.
'Israel didn't want to spoil President Bush's scenario'
In contrast, a lawmaker from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud Party said Israel had shared its doubts with the Americans.
The Guardian - Special report: politics and Iraq Intelligence assessment queried danger from Saddam's weapons
A secret intelligence assessment issued immediately before Britain invaded Iraq indicated that Saddam Hussein's weapons posed much less of a threat than its published dossier implied, the government has admitted.
It has also admitted that intelligence on any chemical and biological weapons Iraq might have deployed was "sparse".
The admissions come in the government's response to the parliamentary intelligence and security committee's report last year which severely criticised the dossier but cleared Downing Street of "sexing it up".
The Telegraph- Blair admits ignorance on WMD
Tony Blair admitted yesterday that when he asked MPs to vote for war he had been unaware that the claim that Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes referred only to battlefield weapons, not missiles.
The Government did nothing to correct the impression given by the September 2002 dossier that the claim referred to longer range weapons, including ballistic missiles, which could deliver chemical or biological warheads.
So basically, the Israelis knew that Saddam didn't have any WMDs, Tony the Poodle deliberately misinformed himself and Shrub just wanted his little war. If it wasn't for the fact that we have 500 + dead CPA troops, a few thousand wounded CPA troops and lord know how many dead Iraqis, this would make for a most hillarious farce. Unfortunatly farce has turned into tragedy, as it often does.
