Blair's office 'substantially' altered Iraq dossier

Protesters demonstrate in front of the Royal Courts of Justice as they wait for Alistair Campbell, Labour's communications director to arrive at court to testify at the Hutton Inquiry yesterday in London. Campbell's testimony is likely to be crucial in understanding the events leading up to the apparent suicide of British weapons expert, Dr David Kelly, as well as Britain's assessment of Iraq's weapons capability leading up to the US and British led invasion of the country. Photo: AFP

Kelly's death is the subject of a parliamentary inquiry, amid allegations -- reportedly based on the weapons scientist's evidence -- that the Blair administration beefed up intelligence data to bolster the case for war on Iraq.

An email from Blair's director of communications Alastair Campbell to chief-of-staff Jonathan Powell, dated September 5, disclosed that the dossier was being substantially rewritten ahead of its publication on September 24.

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Campbell, 46, is the man accused by BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan of personally embelleshing Downing Street's controversial dossier on Iraq, aimed at justifying the case for military action ahead of the March war.

Gilligan alleged in a British newspaper article on June 1 that Campbell, who is set to testify before the probe Tuesday, was responsible for inserting a sensational claim into the dossier, a week before its publication, that stated Iraq could deploy chemical or biological weapons in just 45 minutes.

Documents released to the inquiry Monday showed that the dossier should be altered "as per TB's discussion" -- an apparent reference to Tony Blair.

It said: "Re dossier, substantial rewrite with JS and Julian M in charge, which JS will take to US next Friday, and be in shape Monday thereafter. "Structure as per TB's discussion. Agreement that there has to be real intelligence material in their presentation."

JS apparently referred to John Scarlett, the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, while Julian Miller was the Cabinet Office's chief-of-the-assessment-staff. The US stood for the United States.

Meanwhile a separate email from Powell, also presented to the inquiry Monday, outlined his misgivings over the dossier on the potential threat of Iraqi weapons.

The government row with the BBC over whether or not the government "sexed up" the dossier and Kelly's subsequent and mysterious death have left Blair, who is dwindling badly in opinion polls, facing his gravest crisis since coming to power in 1997.