Clinton for post-9/11 Iraq action

Clinton feared Iraqi weapons would fall into terrorists' hands

Bill Clinton says that no government could have failed to act against Iraq after the 11 September 2001 attacks in view of intelligence provided.

The former US president told the BBC that UK intelligence on the activity of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was more "aggressive" than Washington's.

He added that the world was right to demand weapons inspections in 2002.

But he said war could have been avoided if the UN had passed a resolution threatening military action.

The issue was not whether Saddam would use weapons of mass destruction but whether he was likely to give them away or have them stolen Bill Clinton

Such a resolution would have given the inspectors more time to finish their job, he said.

However, the former president added, the resolution's failure left UK Prime Minister Tony Blair with a "terrible dilemma" - whether to back the US military action or join European allies in opposing it.

Mr Clinton was speaking ahead of Lord Butler's report, which said the accuracy of British intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war was seriously flawed.

Afghan operations 'aborted'

The former president told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that before the war everyone had thought that Iraq still had chemical and biological weapons stockpiles.

British intelligence, whatever Lord Butler says about it, was clearly even more forward-leading than American intelligence Bill Clinton

He said that while containment of Iraq was working the situation regarding Saddam Hussein was different after the 11 September attacks.

"The issue was not whether he would use [weapons of mass destruction] but whether he was likely to give them away or have them stolen," he said. "That's why the world supported inspections."

UK intelligence presented more compelling reasons for action than US intelligence, he said.

"The British intelligence, whatever Lord Butler says about it, was clearly even more forward-leading than the American intelligence in believing that Saddam was trying to get nuclear materials, in believing that Saddam had some kind of relationship with al-Qaeda," he said.

Turning to Afghanistan, Mr Clinton said he had been ready to send in special forces to defeat the former Taleban regime at the end of his time in office, but the operations had been called off at the last minute because the CIA did not trust its own intelligence.

It had not yet been confirmed that al-Qaeda, whom the Taleban was accused of harbouring, was in fact responsible for the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000.

Current US President George W Bush only attacked the Taleban months later, after the 11 September attacks had taken place.