OK, so Blair is giving evidence today to the Hutton inquiry, which, while legitimately investigating the tragic circumstances of the death of Dr David Kelly, is also as close as we'll come to getting any sort of public inquiry into whether or not parliament - and by implication the British people - were misled in the run-up to the war in Iraq.

The government's position is basically that it didn't exaggerate intelligence reports that Iraq was capable of launching a WMD in 45 minutes, or that such readiness constituted an "imminent" (a word Blair was careful eventually not to use - preferring "serious" and "current") threat to Britain and the west.

They're saying they stand by the intelligence as prepared by the JIC.

Fair enough.

Now, dosen't it just seem, shall we say, convenient, that the story being put out on Fox News this morning - the very day of Blair's testimony - is that Saddam sent double agents into the west to deliberately spread the word that Iraq had WMDs when they didn't?

Apparently the idea was that this would enhance Saddam's standing in the arab world, and act as an implied threat to any potential invader.

It also acts as a defence for the intelligence community, allowing it potential deniability over whether or not the risk was real.

The truly sad thing, though, is that another British soldier lost his life in Iraq today. The fiftieth since the "end" of hostilities in this needless conflict that seemed to have been motivated by little more than revenge and political expediency.



Oh, this is great. So much for the freedom of the press. At least where Brother Ashcroft is concerned. Particularly ironic when the exchange happened at the opening of the new museum to the constitution in Philadelphia....