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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Answer

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the conclusions of the Iraq Survey Group with which he does not agree; and if he will give the reason for disagreement in each case. [190696] Mr. MacShane: There are three principal areas of disagreement, all concerning Iraq's nuclear programme: The Iraq Survey Group (ISG) report concludes that there is no evidence to suggest that Iraq sought to procure uranium from Africa in the 1990s. The Government continues to believe that credible evidence exists to support the assertion made in the September 2002 dossier. Lord Butler of Brockwell's review upheld that belief. The UK was not in a position to share all the intelligence on this issue with the ISG. The ISG also expressed doubt that the aluminium tubes referred to in the September dossier were evidence of a resumption of Iraq's nuclear programmes. Again, Lord Butler's review assessed this, and concluded that the Joint Intelligence Committee were right to include reference to the tubes in the dossier and that it properly reflected doubts about the use of the tubes in the caution of its assessments. The Government fully accepts the findings of Lord Butler's review. The ISG also report that they found no evidence to support the claim in the dossier that Iraq "is almost certainly seeking an indigenous ability to enrich uranium" based on gas centrifuge technology. They do, however, admit that elements of useful and relevant technologies were being developed.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

425 c1386W; 190696

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Accountability Intelligence services Iraq Nuclear weapons Publications Weapons Iraq Survey Group

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk