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Bremer leaves Blair red-faced
28/12/2003 16:54 - (SA)
London - British Prime Minister Tony Blair came under renewed pressure over Iraq on Sunday, after the US civil administrator in Baghdad contradicted his claim that "massive evidence" of Saddam Hussein's quest for weapons of mass destruction has been unearthed.
In an interview Paul Bremer was asked if it was correct to say that "massive evidence of a huge system of clandestine laboratories" had come to light since the US and British invasion of Iraq nine months ago.
"I don't know where those words come from but that is not what David Kay has said," replied Bremer, referring to the chief of the Iraq Survey Group that is hunting for Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.
"I have read (Kay's) reports so I don't know who said that," Bremer said.
"It sounds like a bit of a red herring to me," he added. "It sounds like someone who doesn't agree with the policy sets up a red herring then knocks it down."
Bremer backtracked, however, when he was told that it was Blair who had talked about "massive evidence" in a pre-Christmas broadcast to British troops abroad.
Changing tack, the US official said the Iraq Survey Group had found "clear evidence of biological and chemical programmes, ongoing."
There was no immediate reaction from Blair, who was on holiday in Egypt with his family.
But a Downing Street spokesperson reiterated that his "massive evidence" claim had come from the Iraq Survey Group itself.
"He was referring to already published material in the interim report by the Iraq Survey Group," she said.
On Sunday, his former international development secretary, Clare Short, who quit Blair's government in protest over the war, predicted that Blair would resign in the next few months.
The straw on the back of his career as prime minister, she said, would be the findings of Lord Brian Hutton's inquiry into the suicide last July of David Kelly.
"There are going to be a lot of blows and difficulties and then we'll see and he's not looking good," Short said.
"I think that for the honour of the country, as well as the renewal of the Labour government, I very much hope he steps down gracefully."
- AFP
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