The British Briefing Papers

Expanding on the already-publicised Downing Street minutes, here are selections from the full British Briefing Papers, all written a year before the invasion began.

"There is no greater threat now that [Saddam] will use WMD than there has been in recent years, so continuing containment is an option." - Iraq: Options Paper(.PDF)

"Even the best survey of Iraq's WMD programmes will not show much advance in recent years on [the] nuclear, missile or CW/BW fronts: the programmes are extremely worrying but have not, as far as we know, been stepped up." - Ricketts Paper, 3/22/02(.PDF)

"There has been no credible evidence to link Iraq with UBL and Al Qaida." - Straw Paper, 3/25/02(.PDF)

"there might be doubt about the alleged meeting in Prague between Mohammed Atta, the lead hijacker on 9/11, and Iraqi intelligence (did we, he asked, know anything more about this meeting?)." - Meyer Paper, 3/18/02(.PDF)