45 minute claim is dumped

The infamous 45-minute claim about Saddam Hussein's weapons was finally laid to rest today when MI6 formally dropped the source of the misleading intelligence.

In a special Commons statement, MPs were told the Secret Intelligence Service [SIS] would no longer use the "line of reporting" that came up with what became the most notorious propaganda of the run-up to the war with Iraq.

In addition, SIS dropped a second supplier of intelligence, described only as a "liaison service", which was responsible for the false claim that Saddam was producing a biological weapons agent.

The announcement comes nearly 18 months after the end of the war and days after the final report of the Iraq Survey Group confirmed that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction. In fact, he probably destroyed Iraqi stockpiles around a decade ago. It followed an internal investigation forced by serious criticism of the way MI6 vetted and validated intelligence put into the discredited 2002 dossier on Iraqi weaponry.

The 45-minute claim was at the centre of the row between the Government and the BBC that led to

the suicide of weapons scientist Dr David Kelly. The Hutton inquiry then found that Ministry of Defence experts were scornful of the intelligence.

The furore deepened when it emerged that the claim related to battlefield munitions rather than the long-range missiles implied in the official dossier.

Today's written statement was made by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who said the intelligence sources were dropped after " further investigations" by MI6.

"Specifically, the review concluded that the validity of the line of reporting, which included the '45 minutes' intelligence, had come into question," said Mr Straw. "It further concluded that reporting received from a liaison service on Iraqi production of biological agent was seriously flawed.

"The chief of SIS has now written to the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) to inform the committee that ... both these lines of intelligence reporting have been formally withdrawn."

Launching the 2002 dossier, Tony Blair said: "The document discloses that his (Saddam's) military planning allows for some of the WMD to be ready within 45 minutes of an order to use them."