Howard faces new claim of war deceit

By GREG ANSLEY Australia correspondent

CANBERRA - Prime Minister John Howard has come under renewed pressure over the Iraq war following claims his Government was warned in advance that intelligence on weapons of mass destruction was wrong.

The claims, made by a former senior official of the United States State Department, Greg Thielmann, supported further evidence from a former US ambassador alleging the Bush Administration lied to justify the invasion.

The Australian Parliament's joint intelligence committee, which oversees the nation's spy agencies, is already holding secret hearings to determine if flawed intelligence was misrepresented to provide a reason for joining the war.

Howard in February told Parliament war was necessary because of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons programme, and its continued work on nuclear weapons.

The Government's decision was based on assessments by Australian agencies, largely on intelligence provided by Britain and the US. It also was heavily weighted by Australia's alliance with the US.

"Our principled support for the US-led action in Iraq made a deep impression [in Washington] and will not be readily forgotten by the US," Howard said in an important foreign policy speech last week.

But Thielmann, who analysed all US intelligence on Iraq between 2000 and last year, said intelligence that Iraq had been buying material to reprocess uranium had been rejected and that Australia would have been made aware of this.

"If the Prime Minister was reaching the conclusion that Iraq had reconstituted its nuclear weapons programme, which in our office was one of the biggest issues of all, we saw no evidence," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Former US ambassador Joseph Wilson also said that the Administration had ignored a report refuting the British claim that Iraq had bought uranium from Niger, later cited by President George W. Bush among the justifications for war.

Yesterday Howard replied: "What I said on that issue was accurate."

Howard, whose diplomats will tomorrow host a meeting of 11 nations in Brisbane to discuss a blockade of North Korea, instead focused on the benefits of the end of Saddam Hussein's regime.

"Every day that uncovers more mass graves is a demonstration that there is a huge humanitarian and moral dividend out of what took place, and that it was right," he said.

"I am still strong in my belief that Australia did the right thing."

But the Opposition had again attacked Howard, claiming he was "ducking and weaving" on the issue as he had done during the "children overboard" affair, when his Government wrongfully alleged refugees threw children into the sea to force Navy ships to take them aboard.

"We've asked him the question as to when he was told that [the intelligence on Iraq] wasn't correct, and he's refused to answer it," Labor leader Simon Crean said.

Herald Feature: Iraq