A ditstinct lack of intelligence

Psst! Want to know a secret about Saddam Hussein? Well, whatever you do, don't take too much notice of Tony Blair's dossier. As someone who has spent far too many years examining the life and crimes of Saddam, I must confess to having been rather intrigued by the latest effort by Downing Street to convince a sceptical British public that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction posed a threat to world peace that could not be …

…he could not resist the temptation to spice it up with an obscure PhD thesis. The result is that Downing Street has scored a spectacular own goal, and the reputation of the intelligence service has been seriously undermined. If the Government is to stand any chance of winning the battle for hearts and minds in the coming war against Saddam, it will need to display a great deal more intelligence than it did last week.