No proof that allied bombs hit marketplace, says Hoon

5.00pm - By PAUL WAUGH

LONDON - Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, today launched a vitriolic attack on Robert Fisk of the Independent newspaper, claiming there was no conclusive proof US cruise missiles had bombed markets in Baghdad.

Mr Hoon hit out after Labour MPs used an emergency Commons statement on the war to highlight Fisk's reports on the civilian casualties caused by explosions in the city last week.

The Independent carried detailed reports on the two incidents. The first was last Wednesday when 14 Iraqis were killed and the second was on Friday when 62 died.

Fisk collected shrapnel at the scene of the bombing in the Shu'ala district from what turned out to be a cruise missile made in Texas by Raytheon.

Alice Mahon, Labour MP for Halifax, seized on the report when she highlighted the number of deaths of civilian children in the war on Iraq to date.

"The two market bombings killed a high number of children. If he wants information on the second bombing, he can go to yesterday's Independent, where they have got the number of the missile," she said.

Mr Hoon said there was not "a shred of corroborating evidence", other than that "supplied by Saddam Hussein's regime", that American forces were responsible for the two marketplace tragedies.

"I would really caution Ms Mahon against relying on a particular account. First of all the original account of the first market place bomb, set out in graphic detail in the Independent newspaper," he said.

"If as I'm sure she did, she read it carefully, she would have seen the source of information to suggest it was the responsibility of coalition forces was someone the journalist spoke to in the marketplace. That was the source of the allegation it was a coalition responsibility."

Mr Hoon had also read "with some care" the Independent's reports on the second incident but was equally unconvinced. He revealed for the first time Western intelligence claims that Iraqi authorities had been seen "clearing up" the bomb site soon afterwards.

"The allegation is that because a piece of cruise missile was handed to the journalist it somehow proved it was caused by coalition forces," he said.

"A considerable number of cruise missiles have been targeted at Baghdad in the past few weeks. I can also tell Ms Mahon we have very clear evidence immediately after those two explosions there were representatives of the regime clearing up in and around the marketplace. Now why they should be doing that other than to perhaps disguise their own responsibility for what took place is an interesting question.

"What is important about this is all of us should look very sceptically at these kinds of reports, relying only on known and agreed facts."

Mr Hoon repeatedly cast doubt on TV reports on Wednesday that Iraqi civilians had died from cluster bombs dropped near the village of Hillah. MPs and the public should "suspend their belief" because the graphic images were the product of Iraqi minders taking television crews to particular locations.

But Glenda Jackson, Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, condemned the suggestion that journalists should be censored and pointed out several reputable British reporters had already died in Iraq.

Mr Hoon replied: "I'm certainly prepared to consider criticism of coalition forces if it is warranted. But what I'm not prepared to do is to accept at face value an account of an incident given by a man in a marketplace in Baghdad. It is simply absurd to suggest that we've got to accept that kind of account.

"We are prepared to recognise we might have some responsibility but at the same time we don't rush to judgment in blaming, in this case, coalition forces without there being a shred of corroborating evidence other than that supplied by Saddam Hussein's regime."


Complexities of war the defence secretary chose to ignore

By NIGEL MORRIS and PAUL WAUGH

Geoff Hoon has been at the forefront of attempts to reassure the public that military action is on track, despite a series of "friendly fire" deaths and pockets of fierce resistance.

But some of the Defence Secretary's pronouncements in the Commons, at Ministry of Defence briefings and in media interviews have represented a triumph of hope over reality.

PRISONERS OF WAR

On Monday, Mr Hoon told MPs, 8,000 Iraqi prisoners of war had been captured by coalition forces. Yesterday, he increased that figure to 9,000.

Within hours, however, the Ministry of Defence had corrected the total to 5,323, blaming the mistake on "confusion in transferring information from theatre to here".

REPORTS FROM THE FRONT

Mr Hoon contrasted the conditions faced by reporters based in Baghdad with those travelling with coalition troops. He said journalists on the front- line were "able to send their material back uncensored to our homes".

The situation is more subtle. War reporters are banned from revealing details of their location or of military planning.

TV STATION BOMBING

On 26 March, Mr Hoon told the BBC that "no direct attempt" had been made to take Iraqi television off the air.

Hours earlier, the US had announced that coalition missiles had blitzed Iraq's main television station, as well as telecoms targets.

SURRENDERING TROOPS

On 22 March, Mr Hoon hailed reports that Iraq's 51st Division, which was guarding Basra, had thrown in the towel. He said: "The Iraqi 51st Division has stopped fighting overnight."

Four days later, more than 1,000 soldiers from the same units were spotted returning to the city to hide among its civilian population.

CHEMICAL WEAPONS

Mr Hoon said on March 27 that the discovery of more than 100 bio-chemical protection suits in the Rumaila oilfield showed categorically that "the Iraqi regime is prepared to use weapons of mass destruction".

Yesterday, he said: "As far as weapons of mass destruction, we have not made significant findings as yet."

BASRA UPRISING

On March 26, Mr Hoon said: "Certainly, there have been disturbances with local people rising up against the regime."

Within hours, al-Jazeera television reported that Basra was quiet, and it emerged later that the "uprising" was a small protest against the regime.

SITUATION IN THE SOUTH

Mr Hoon told the Commons on 26 March that: "The regime has effectively lost control of southern Iraq. The regime must know its days are numbered."

Colonel Chris Vernon, a British military spokesman, later admitted: "Basra is no-where near yet in our hands."

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Herald Feature: Iraq war