LONDON - The British government has been ordered to publish an early draft of a controversial dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction which helped justify the 2003 invasion, officials said Wednesday.
The Information Tribunal rejected an appeal by the government that releasing the document, prepared by the Foreign Office in 2002, would not be in the public interest.
Reports have suggested the early draft might include the first mention of a claim that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein could launch a WMD strike within 45 minutes -- a suggestion which became the focus of a huge dispute after the war.
The Foreign Office reacted cautiously to the order by the tribunal, which rules on cases under freedom-of-information legislation. "We will be studying the decision of the Tribunal," a spokesman said.
The draft dossier was prepared by a Foreign Office press secretary. The 45-minute claim was taken up by then-prime minister Tony Blair in his foreword to the final dossier, published in September 2002.
A huge row erupted between the government and the BBC, which cited sources suggesting that the 45-minute claim had been used to "sex up" the dossier to strengthen the case for war.
The tribunal's ruling was made after a freedom-of-information request by a campaigner, Chris Ames, in February 2005.
The ruling judged the document would be released, although there will be a "very small redaction in the manuscript annotation" before it is disclosed, but that is "not central to (its) purpose or content."
It was not immediately clear when the document would be published, however.
An investigation, the so-called Hutton inquiry, was launched after the source for the BBC's story was revealed as a WMD expert who subsequently committed suicide.
The probe came out largely in favour of the government, which has always insisted the 45-minute claim was backed by the intelligence services.
Blair's premiership was clouded by his decision to back US President George W. Bush in the invasion of Iraq, against opposition from other key European powers including France and Germany.
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