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London: British Prime Minister Tony Blair on October 5 faced fresh controversy over Iraq after it was revealed that he had privately conceded two weeks before the Iraq war that Saddam Hussein did not have any usable weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

Stating this, Robin Cook, who resigned shortly before the invasion of Iraq as leader of the Commons, said John Scarlett, chairman of the joint intelligence committee (JIC) also "assented" that Saddam had no such weapons.

His revelations, taken from a diary that he kept as a senior minister during the months leading up to war, are published today in the 'Sunday Times.' They shatter the case for war put forward by the government that Iraq presented "a real and present danger" to Britain.

Cook revealed there was a near mutiny in the Cabinet, triggered by David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, when it first discussed military action against Iraq. The Prime Minister ignored the "large number of ministers who spoke up against the war", Cook said.

According to Cook: "The most revealing exchange came when we (Blair and Cook) talked about Saddam's arsenal. I told him, 'it's clear from the private briefing I have had that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction in a sense of weapons that could strike at strategic cities.' But he probably does have several thousand battlefield chemical munitions. Do you never worry that he might use them against British troops?"

Blair replied, "Yes, but all the effort he has had to put into concealment makes it difficult for him to assemble them quickly for use."

Blair also "deliberately crafted a suggestive phrasing" to mislead the public into thinking there was a link between Iraq and al-Qaida, and he did not want the United Nations weapons inspections to be successful, Cook stated.

According to Cook, the government misled the House of Commons and asked MPs to vote for war on a "false prospectus".

He stated that Blair earlier gave President Bill Clinton a private assurance that he would support him in military action in Iraq, if action in the UN failed and it would certainly have been in line with his previous practice if he had given President Bush a private assurance of British support.

Cook's long-awaited diaries, published in book form as Point of Departure, are the first memoir of any member of Blair's Cabinet. His disclosures are likely to lead to renewed calls for a judicial inquiry into the legitimacy of the war.

The Hutton inquiry into the death of David Kelly has dealt only with the question of what the government believed ahead of publication of its Iraq dossier in September 2002 and whether Downing Street hardened intelligence reports to make the threat from Saddam seem more compelling.

According to 'The Mail on Sunday,' a senior Whitehall (government) source told the tabloid that doubts about the nature of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons were raised before British troops were sent into action in March - but were ignored by Downing Street (Prime Minister's Office).

PTI