Blair, Hoon et al didn't lie. They honestly believed the dossier.
So Lord Hutton has decided that Blair, Hoon et al didn't lie. They honestly believed the dossier. They believed that Saddam had WMD ready for use within 45 minutes. Let's not get into the issue of an establishment ex-lawyer appointing another one to get him off the hook.
Instead, was I alone in hearing Air Marshal Sir John Walker (former Chief of Defence Intelligence and former Chairman of the JIC) pointing out on the Today programme that such fielded weapons should have been detectable via various intelligence sources, with lots of collateral sources, and that the fact that it came from a single source made it highly suspect. He pointed out the lack of evidence for weapons of mass destruction - or even for chemical mortar rounds ("which unless technology has changed a lot would have a job reaching Cyprus..."). He criticised the way in which the dossier's language was changed for political effect (pointing out that 'may be' is very different to 'is') and expressed clear concern about the unparallelled way in which JIC reports were used to 'sell' the war to the public.
So if Blair and Hoon did believe the Dossier, and specifically the 45 minute claim, should we not be censuring them for their poor judgement and stupidity?
And while Gilligan's claim that the Government knew the evidence it was holding up was untrue may have been inaccurate, his contention that the dossier was changed for political affect, and that it's contents were suspect have turned out to be entirely accurate. I can't help feeling that the wrong people have been forced to resign.