MI6 spy bosses knew Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction a YEAR before the war, former secret agent reveals
Secret mission to destroy weapons bases aborted in 2001 ... because there weren't any
BRITISH intelligence chiefs knew there were no Iraqi weapons of mass destruction almost a year before Tony Blair’s “45 minute” claim, a former agent says.
The ex-Secret Intelligence Service operative revealed a secret mission to destroy Iraq’s chemical and biological installations was aborted in October 2001 as none could be found.
But 11 months later, on September 24, 2002, Mr Blair said Saddam Hussein’s WMDs could be ready “within 45 minutes”.
Britain then joined the US as Iraq was blitzed in March 2003.
Capt Patrick Riley, 70, told of the aborted mission days after The Chilcot Report’s exposure of Mr Blair’s flawed case for going to war.
He said he was due to be part of a team to enter Iraq in late 2001 to pinpoint WMD bases for air attacks.
But the operation was cancelled when an officer met an Iraqi-based M16 agent and was told there were no bases.
Capt Riley, who served in the SAS, was part of a security team which accompanied the officer to a rendezvous with the agent in Tunisia.
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He said: “The officer explained he had been told there were no WMD bases, so the operation was cancelled.
"This agent was known to MI6 and was trusted.
"When Blair said that about the WMDs and 45 minutes, I knew it was a lie.
"I just thought they used the lie as an excuse for war.”
Capt Riley — not his real name — became an agent after serving in the Army and SAS.
He has shown The Sun on Sunday his Certificate of Service including his SAS selection papers marked “exemplary”.
Publishers are currently battling over rights for his autobiography, Kisses From Nimbus, which details his career — including the WMD revelations.