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Weapons Hunt

Aired February 02, 2004 - 13:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: As he has from the start, British Prime Minister Tony Blair seems ready to follow the White House lead and launch his own intel investigation.
CNN's Robin Oakley live from London with that -- Robin.

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.

Well, Tony Blair, like George Bush, has for a long time been resisting the idea of any inquiry into the quality of the intelligence acquired before the Iraq war and the way in which that intelligence was used.

But his aides said today they have been in close touch with the White House over the last four years, and they do now acknowledge that there is a case to explain why those weapons of mass destruction have not been found.

Tony Blair, of course, has been looking increasingly isolated. He's been under heavy pressure from opposition leaders, like Michael Howard, the conservative opposition leader, to call an inquiry. Plenty of his own paramilitarians would be glad to see that, those on the labor side not keen on following him into war in the first place.

But of course Tony Blair has already had one inquiry into the death of the weapons scientist Dr. David Kelly, an inquiry which found the government not guilty on the charge that it had distorted the use of intelligence in making the case for war.

So we're still waiting to hear precisely what kind of inquiry Tony Blair is going to announce. It seems likely he will follow George Bush down that trial, but the timing isn't going to suit him nearly as well as George Bush. George Bush's inquiry won't report until after the U.S. election. Any inquiry Tony Blair calls is almost certainly bound to report before he faces the electors sometime in 2005 -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Robin Oakley, live from London. Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired February 2, 2004 - 13:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: As he has from the start, British Prime Minister Tony Blair seems ready to follow the White House lead and launch his own intel investigation.
CNN's Robin Oakley live from London with that -- Robin.

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.

Well, Tony Blair, like George Bush, has for a long time been resisting the idea of any inquiry into the quality of the intelligence acquired before the Iraq war and the way in which that intelligence was used.

But his aides said today they have been in close touch with the White House over the last four years, and they do now acknowledge that there is a case to explain why those weapons of mass destruction have not been found.

Tony Blair, of course, has been looking increasingly isolated. He's been under heavy pressure from opposition leaders, like Michael Howard, the conservative opposition leader, to call an inquiry. Plenty of his own paramilitarians would be glad to see that, those on the labor side not keen on following him into war in the first place.

But of course Tony Blair has already had one inquiry into the death of the weapons scientist Dr. David Kelly, an inquiry which found the government not guilty on the charge that it had distorted the use of intelligence in making the case for war.

So we're still waiting to hear precisely what kind of inquiry Tony Blair is going to announce. It seems likely he will follow George Bush down that trial, but the timing isn't going to suit him nearly as well as George Bush. George Bush's inquiry won't report until after the U.S. election. Any inquiry Tony Blair calls is almost certainly bound to report before he faces the electors sometime in 2005 -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Robin Oakley, live from London. Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com