“Three top agencies responsible for Australia’s intelligence, foreign policy and defence assessment – the Office of National Assessments, the Foreign Affairs Department and the Defence Intelligence Organisation – have now admitted being aware that the US State Department doubted claims that Iraq had sought uranium from Africa for a nuclear program. Yet all say they didn’t tell their political bosses.
For a man apparently seriously and embarrassingly dudded by his experts, John Howard appears extraordinarily forbearing. You have to wonder why.
ONA let him make a claim it knew was highly dubious, and yet the PM finds excuses for it. When it comes to the missing weapons of mass destruction, the PM wants to move on.” Age