British Foreign Minister Jack Straw and his US peer, Colin Powell, privately expressed serious doubts about the quality of intelligence on Iraq's banned weapons program as they were trying to get UN support for a war on Iraq, the Guardian reported Saturday. Their deep concerns about the intelligence emerged at a private meeting between the two shortly before a crucial UN security council session on February 5, the newspaper added.
The meeting took place at the Waldorf hotel in New York, where they discussed the growing diplomatic crisis. The report is based on a diplomatic source who has read a transcript of the conversation, the British daily conveyed.
During their joint meeting, straw stated that claims being made by his boss Tony Blair and US President Bush could not be proved. Powell shared the concern about intelligence assessments, especially those being presented by the Pentagon's office of special plans set up by the US deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz.
Powell was quoted as telling straw he hoped the facts, when they came out, would not "explode in their faces." (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
