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War justified and WMD might be found: Aussie PM
Prime Minister John Howard today maintained that intelligence at the time justified Australiaâs decision to go to war in Iraq and he would still make the same decision in the circumstances. A long-awaited report by former top British civil servant Lord Butler, released overnight, found some British pre-war intelligence was seriously flawed and unreliable, but found no evidence of deliberate distortion or culpable negligence. It discredited one key claim Blair used to justify the war in Iraq - that Saddam Hussein could deploy weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in 45 minutes. No such weapons have been found more than a year after the invasion.Mr Howard welcomed the findings of the Butler report, which said it was impossible to rule out the existence of WMD. "He said, and I quote, âIt would be a rash person to say at this stage that stocks do not exist and will not be foundâ," Mr Howard told Sky News. "My position remains that we had strong intelligence to justify our decision and nothing in the Butler report alters that position. "If weâd have had our time over again I would have taken the same decision." Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-07-15 |
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