Blair Defiant In Debate On Iraq Weapons Intelligence

LONDON, July 20 (AFP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted Tuesday that intelligence about Iraq`s weapons of mass destruction "left little doubt" they existed, despite last week`s report criticising much of the information as unreliable.
"The intelligence really left little doubt about Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction," a defiant premier told parliament at the start of a debate into the inquiry.
The inquiry team, led by former top civil servant Lord Robin Butler, said last Wednesday that much of the intelligence on Iraq`s weaponry had later proved to be unreliable.
The report cleared Blair of any deliberate wrongdoing, but he has come under pressure from opponents to explain how he interpreted the intelligence as showing Baghdad posed an immediate threat to the West, Blair`s argument for backing the US-led conflict.