Army officer reveals how obsession with WMD led to Iraq blunder

BRITISH officials were under so much pressure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that they embarrassed their US colleagues by insisting that medical chemicals were deadly weapons of war.

Lieutenant Colonel David Reynolds, of the Parachute Regiment, was in Afghanistan in 2002 helping the hunt for Osama Bin Laden when he learned that plans for the invasion of Saddam Hussein’s fiefdom were being drawn up.

He was switched to take part. Weapons of mass destruction quickly became the main focus because without them the case for military action seemed weak, Lt Col Reynolds said.

Speaking in the wake of the damning Chilcot report, he said: “There was huge pressure in the middle of 2002 to focus on Iraq. When we got in, all London wanted to know was where were the weapons of mass destruction.

“We had just arrived in Afghanistan and were now about to start a second major operation that would stretch resources.

“At first the reasons for invading seemed weak but then the intelligence claim of WMD changed everyone’s thinking amid the fear that Saddam might use them to strike at the West.”

Lt Col Reynolds was attached to the US forces that seized Baghdad.

The political priority was to find WMD and therefore validate the reasons for going to war
Lieutenant Colonel David Reynolds
He said: “When the initial fighting was over, Downing Street advisers flew into Baghdad. The political priority was to find WMD and therefore validate the reasons for going to war.

“A special team was established and while the hunt for Saddam was officially the main focus of operations, behind the scenes constant reports were being made about the progress in the hunt for WMD. Then in May residents at Amiriya were found to be suffering radiation sickness. A team was sent from Baghdad to investigate. I flew into the village with US soldiers who took soil samples and other items back for checking.

“The samples were identified as cobalt-60, a radiation source commonly used for medical applications, which had been used by Saddam’s henchmen in tests on animals and humans.

“The US military agreed it was dangerous but their on-scene experts said the cobalt could only be considered as a weapon if it was deployed with high explosives in a dirty bomb. Our political advisers continued to press the US and made it clear that such information could help change public opinion.

“Downing Street had indicated to the Ministry of Defence that WMD had been found. They hadn’t. The US was embarrassed at the hard line the political advisers had pressed for.”

Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, former commander of the British Army’s Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment, said: “Cobalt-60 is used to treat cancer but it can also be used to kill people.

“It’s a favourite for terrorists because it’s easy to get hold of. But there is absolutely no way you could fashion it into a weapon of mass destruction. You could make a dirty bomb with it, but dirty bombs are not WMDs. Very few people would get killed or injured.

“The Americans were absolutely right to rein in British civil servants who were clutching at straws.”