Jack Straw said that he didn't wish to invalidate Ms Short's recollection of the cabinet shouting her down but it wasn't his recollection and also the Cabinet wasn't exactly full of "wilting violets".
Ann Clwyd MP Prime Minister's Special Envoy to Iraq, 2003 - 2009 and member of CARDRI ("Committee Against Repression and for Democratic Rights in Iraq") who spent much time before the war drawing attention to the most sadistic aspects of Saddam's regime (culminating in this article) gave some gruesome testimony about the Iraqi penal system. Here's a typical extact:
Clare Short stated pretty bluntly that Lord Goldsmith had in her view mislead the Cabinet about the surety of the advice he was offering on the legality of war and that everyone ignored her.
General the Lord Walker of Aldringham ...Chief of the General Staff, 2001 – Feb 2003 – April 2006 talks about the mattress mice and levers
Sir Kevin Tebbit Permanent Secretary, MOD, 2001 - 2005 stated that if there were lots of meetings no one invited him to them but that didn't mean they didn't take place
John Hutton MP viciously slagged off the MOD's ironically titled Future Rapid Effect System program that produced absolutely nothing in only 10 years because no one could decide on the specifications.
Margaret Beckett who was in charge of liaising with the UN after the invasion admitted that post invasion UN cooperation was a bit grudging. But cheerfully added that she doesn't care if it is grudging as long as people do what she wants.
More redaction before Sir Lawrence Freedman asserts that after UNSCOM withdrew from Iraq in the late 90s MI6 lost most of its sources.. . ...
