Major General Michael Laurie is not a name most people are familiar with I imagine but following the publication of a letter from him to the Chilcot Inquiry we are going to hear a fair bit about him in the next few days. This is the story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13371751.
In the run up to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 Major General Laurie was a member of the Defence Intelligence Staff. Back in January 2010 Alastair Campbell was vigorously defending the September 2002 dossier at the Chilcot Inquiry: he asserted that the purpose of the dossier was to inform its readers about Iraq's (alleged) weapons of mass destruction and NOT to make the case for war. Michael Laurie sees things very differently: "Alastair Campbell said to the inquiry that the purpose of the dossier was not to "make a case for war," he wrote. "I had no doubt at this time this was exactly its purpose and these very words were used."
I made a point of listening to the 6 o'clock on Radio4 this evening and this story took up the first five minutes of the bulletin. The BBC handled it very well I thought. When it comes to a decision as to who to believe, Michael Laurie or Alastair Campbell then surely it has to be the former.
Brian, did you notice that rather appositely Mick Laurie was appointed chief executive of Crime Stoppers in August 2003? I wonder whether he received any phone call leads on 0800 555111 regarding unusual activities on Harrowdown Hill the previous month?
ReplyDeleteMy feeling is that a crime was allowed to occur,rather than stopped<, and Lord Hutton did the trick in trying to make sure it wasn't uncovered.