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Trailers are not mobile labs
15/06/2003 13:49 - (SA)
London - A British inquiry into two trailers found in northern Iraq has found they are not mobile germ warfare labs, but were for the production of hydrogen to fill artillery balloons, the Observer reported on Sunday.
The London-based weekly newspaper said the conclusion by biological weapons experts was an embarrassment for Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has claimed the discovery of the labs proved that Iraq retained weapons of mass destruction and justified the case for going to war against Saddam Hussein.
A British scientist and biological weapons expert, who examined the trailers in Iraq, told the Observer: "They are not mobile germ warfare laboratories.
"You could not use them for making biological weapons. They do not even look like them. They are exactly what the Iraqis said they were - facilities for the production of hydrogen gas to fill balloons."
Blair has for weeks been forced to defend himself against allegations by the media that his office embellished intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction to beef up the case for war.
Last week he said he would not appear before a parliamentary foreign affairs committee probing the claims, but confirmed he would co-operate with a separate inquiry by parliament's joint intelligence and security committee - which meets behind closed doors, and whose reports are subject to censorship by Downing Street.
- AFX
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