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Originally Posted by downquark1
Can we call him M?
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LOL. I think it's "C" actually
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Originally Posted by Damien
Who really cares? Its not for us to get involved and I am sure that he was done great service in m16 that we dont know aboout. I mean I am glad that one bad act hasnt stopped him just because it was public .
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Well, there are some who may say that the "one bad act" (allegedly helping "sex up" the Iraq WMD Dossier) is actually the reason that he has been given this promotion...
e.g. some have alleged it may be some kind of "reward" for repeatedly saying "Yes" to all those Dossier alterations requested by his "mate" Alastair Campbell.
AFAICR, The Hutton Inquiry showed plenty of evidence of Scarlett happily altering things at the suggestion of Campbell....strengthening of the language & so on, which alters the context of the intelligence...
(although, of course, Lord Hutton cleared everyone apart from the BBC in his actual report
...but that's something that has been already discussed a great deal,
Here & in various other threads)
I would have thought that the head of MI6 should be someone who can actually be fairly apolitical & objective, someone who is able to present intelligence as it is, without succoming (sp?) to government interference to spin stuff for political reasons.
Not that I am saying John Scarlett is not someone like that of course
, but the opinion of him I formed from following the Hutton Inquiry is not a very positive opinion.
There is also the matter of the Butler Inquiry - this has not finished yet, & Mr Scarlett is one of the key people involved in the affair being examined.
"MI6 Anger Over War Intelligence"
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Originally Posted by Patrick Wintour for The Guardian, April 7 2004
MI6 has told members of the Butler inquiry into the role of the intelligence services in the build-up to the invasion of Iraq that it never again wants to be used by politicians to provide a public case for going to war.
(snip)
The process is said to have distorted the findings of updated assessments by the JIC, chaired by John Scarlett. Members of the Butler committee have found examples where the JIC's assessments prepared for distribution across Whitehall were more emphatic about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq than the raw intelligence allowed. Members have looked at reports that show that MI6 agents were not sure that Saddam's retained chemical weapons were active.
A key target appears to be Mr Scarlett, described by one source as an ambitious civil servant. He is due to be the first senior Whitehall figure to give oral evidence and will be questioned on whether the hierarchical reporting structure froze out the most knowledgeable agents.
The unspoken question is the extent to which MI6 and the political class blame one another for the blunders.
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So, MI6, which does not want its work to be politicised, is now going to be run by someone who...has allegedly politicised its work.
Also - I can't find the links right now, but I've read in the papers (Guardian, Independent, others) plus on the net, that various sources within MI6 have been extremely unhappy with the whole "Dossier" thing & specifically with how Scarlett was doing things.
And C4 News tonight had quotes from various former Chairpersons of the JIC, *all* slamming the decision to make John Scarlett the head of MI6 (as have the Lib Dems, the Tories, & others).
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Originally Posted by Damien
Also I thought it was meant to be secret?
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Nope. That used to be the case, but the names of MI5 & MI6 heads have been known for quite a while now - since, I think, the agencies were finally officially confirmed to exist & actually given a proper statutory backbone.
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