BRITAIN: One of Britain's top spymasters made a surprise audio 'appearance' before the Hutton Inquiry yesterday to defend the controversial assertion that Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction (WMD) within 45 minutes.
On the first day of the second phase of the inquiry, meanwhile, it was announced that the British Defence Secretary, Mr Geoff Hoon, the departing Downing Street communications director, Mr Alastair Campbell, and the BBC journalist, Mr Andrew Gilligan, have all been recalled for cross-examination.
Sir Richard Billing Dearglove - known in his trade as 'C' - yesterday formally identified himself from an undisclosed location as "Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service popularly known as MI6." Sir Richard's 'appearance' was unprecedented, if under-whelming for those hoping it marked a step toward greater transparency within the intelligence world.
The spy chief showed himself in confident command, challenging James Dingemans QC over his use of the word "claim" in respect of the 45 minutes: "You use the word 'claim." I think I would prefer to refer to it as a piece of well sourced intelligence." Sir Richard confirmed this came from "an established and reliable source equating a senior Iraqi military officer who was certainly in a position to know this information." However, while the "intelligence" or "claim" had been reliably included, Sir Richard acknowledged it might have been given "undue prominence." He said: "I think given the misinterpretation that was placed on the 45 minutes intelligence, with the benefit of hindsight you can say that is a valid criticism. But I am confident that the intelligence was accurate and the use made of it was entirely consistent with the original report." Asked to elaborate on this misinterpretation, he continued: "I think the original report referred to chemical and biological munitions and that was taken to refer to battlefield weapons. I think what subsequently happened in the reporting was that it was taken that the 45 minutes applied, let us say, to weapons of a longer range . . ."
Sir Richard told his service directors MI6 "had full visibility" of the process of preparing the dossier, said it "had gone extremely well" and that he personally proposed the vote of thanks to Mr John Scarlett, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, "for the way he and the assessment staff conducted a difficult exercise and the integrity with which it was done."
Meanwhile, Lord Hutton yesterday indicated that his inquiry - tasked to investigate the events surrounding the death of government scientist Dr David Kelly - would hear from a total of 30 new and recalled witnesses before he retires to prepare his report on Thursday week, September 25th.
Despite press speculation last week, the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has not been recalled.
Tomorrow, the spotlight again falls on Mr Gilligan, the journalist at the centre of the storm between the government and the BBC over his original claim that Number 10 and Mr Campbell "sexed-up" the controversial Iraqi weapons dossier against the wishes of the intelligence services.
In his evidence to the inquiry yesterday, the BBC's director general, Mr Greg Dyke, said e-mails sent by Mr Gilligan to an MP investigating broadcasts about the Iraq dossier were "not acceptable."
During the first stage of the inquiry it emerged that Mr Gilligan sent an e-mail to a member of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee appearing to reveal that Dr Kelly had been the source for BBC's Newsnight journalist Susan Watts's report about concerns within the intelligence community about the claims made in the dossier.