I’ve not seen a lot of coverage of this, but the FCO has lost in its attempt to withhold disclosure of a draft of the “dodgy dossier” published before the invasion of Iraq. There’ll be a few glum faces in Whitehall over this: but it’s the Freedom of Information Act’s finest hour so far. Here’s the latest post about this at the Iraq dossier blog by Chris Ames, who fought the FCO in the Information Tribunal; and here’s Iain Dale’s blog post about this today, in which he links to a documentary film by Chris Ames.
This ” dodgy dossier” will either be a SCANDALOUS read, or ( having bieng a bit doctored) will be the biggest disapppointment since WALES rubbished it in the Rugby World Cup…..
The draft is, as I understand it, redacted. Quite what that might do to the detail is difficult to guess, but FCO is still ‘considering’ the judgement prior to actual release, apparently.
The real pity is that this has taken so much time and effort, and has therefore lost topicality and impact. It’s almost certain that observers will conclude that deceptions (probably deliberate) took place. But we all knew that, didn’t we? This is an old game – draw things out to the point of boredom.
Thus the outcome will merely serve as confirmation of the Goverment’s mendacity. So what else is new?