London - Former British prime minister Tony Blair was warned just days before the 2003 invasion of Iraq that information on Saddam Hussein's alleged arsenal of chemical weapons was "patchy" and that Iraq had no links with al-Qaeda, an inquiry was told Wednesday. On its second day of public hearings, the so-called Iraq War Inquiry heard evidence from a string of former senior Foreign Office officials who played down the weapons threat emanating from Iraq in the run-up to the war.
Blair explicitly used the alleged threat as a main reason for joining the US-led invasion, although no weapons of mass destruction were ever found in Iraq.
Saddam Hussein's Iraq was "not top of the list" of countries that caused international concern over weapons of mass destruction ahead of the invasion, said former Foreign Office official Tim Dowse.
He said the London government in 2001 was "more alarmed" by developments in Libya, Iran and North Korea. "It (Iraq) wasn't top of the list. In terms of my concerns on coming into the job in 2001, I would say we put Libya and Iran ahead of Iraq," he said.
That view was endorsed by William Ehrman, director of international security at the Foreign Office, who said: "In terms of nuclear and missiles, I think Iran, North Korea and Libya were probably of greater concern than Iraq."
Ehrman said government ministers had been warned repeatedly that the intelligence relating to Iraq's possession of chemical and biological weapons had been "patchy."
Ehrman also rejected claims, made primarily by the US administration of George W Bush at the time, that Iraq had links to the al-Qaeda terrorism network and was "arming terrorists."
"Our view was that there was no evidence to suggest serious collaboration of any sort between Iraq and al-Qaeda," said Ehrman.
"They (Iraq) did not want to be associated with al-Qaeda. They were not natural allies," said Ehrman.
He added that the British government "didn't believe in any way" that Iraq was behind the September, 2001 terror attacks in the US.
"We never found any evidence that chemical or biological material had been passed by the Iraqi regime to terrorists," he said.
Briefings from the intelligence services had consistently shown that the material on Iraq's alleged arsenal of weapons of mass destruction was limited, sporadic and patchy," said Ehrman.
Just days before the invasion, on March 10, 2003, the government had received intelligence showing that Saddam Hussein might be unable to use any chemical weapons at his disposal because their assembly had not been ordered.
"There was also a suggestion that Iraq might lack warheads capable of effective dispersal of agents," said Ehrman.
The inquiry, which began hearing evidence Tuesday, is looking at claims that Blair used the alleged weapons threat to justify Britain's participation in the war.
