Ex-Iraq expert: Britain saw no threat before war

Story Highlights

• Expert says Iraq posed no threat in months leading to U.S.-led invasion
• Saddam Hussein had "limited ability" to launch any form of attack
• Previously secret testimony published by House of Commons committee
• Britian has more than 7,000 British troops in Iraq, primarily in the south

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LONDON, England (AP) -- Britain's former top Iraq expert at the United Nations said in previously secret testimony that most government officials did not believe Iraq posed a threat in the months leading to the U.S.-led invasion, according to a new report.

Carne Ross, a former first secretary to the British mission at the U.N. responsible for Iraq policy, told a House of Commons committee that he and other analysts believed that Iraq had only a "very limited" ability to mount an attack of any kind, including one using weapons of mass destruction, or WMD.

Ross declined to comment on his testimony Friday, saying it spoke for itself.

The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday published the testimony, which Russ gave in 2004 to Lord Butler's official inquiry into intelligence on Iraq.

Butler did not fault the government but criticized intelligence officials for relying in part on "seriously flawed" or "unreliable" sources.

The committee published Ross' testimony after assuring him that parliamentary privilege would protect him from prosecution under the Official Secrets Act.

Ross served in the British mission at the U.N. headquarters from 1998 until 2002. Later, he was posted to Kosovo and Afghanistan, but kept in contact with British Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry experts on Iraq and inquired about the shift toward war.

"It was the commonly held view among officials that the threat had been contained," Ross said in the written testimony.

"Iraq's ability to launch a WMD or any form of attack was very limited," he said. "There were (approximately) 12 or so unaccounted-for Scud missiles; Iraq's air force was depleted to the point of total ineffectiveness; its army was but a pale shadow of its earlier might; there was no evidence of any connection between Iraq and any terrorist organization that might have planned an attack," he wrote.

During the months leading up to the war, he said, there was no new evidence that Saddam Hussein posed a threat. "What changed was the government's determination to present available evidence in a different light," he testified.

Ross' testimony is likely to be cited during a full parliamentary debate on the Iraq war next month.

Ross told the committee that he resigned from the government in September 2004 because of his misgivings over the war. He is now an independent consultant.

John Major, Britain's former prime minister, raised concerns Friday about the future of British involvement in Iraq. Combat forces cannot be withdrawn, he said, until "fundamental questions" about Iraq's future are resolved, including what do do about Iraq's estimated 60,000 militia fighters.

"If you are unable to disband or neuter them you aren't going to have anything other than chaos," Major said. He added that other issues remain to be resolved, including the distribution of oil revenues and the status of the disputed city of Kirkuk.

Defense Secretary Des Browne said last month that Britain hopes to hand over security to Iraqi forces in the southern city of Basra in the first half of 2007, and to reduce British force levels by several thousand.

There are more than 7,000 British troops in the country, primarily in the south.