Powell ‘misled world over Iraq threat’

US Secretary of State Colin Powell misled the world about the threat posed by Iraq when he spoke at the United Nations last winter, a former top weapons expert claimed yesterday.

Greg Thielmann, who retired last year as the State Department’s expert on chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, described the appearance as one of Mr Powell’s career “low points”.

He claimed intelligence was interpreted to lead to the conclusion war was necessary.

In fact, he said, Iraq posed no imminent threat to the world or even to its neighbours.

His claims are contested by the US and British governments, who believe Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction and could have passed them on to terrorists.

Mr Thielmann said: “The main problem was that the senior administration officials have what I call faith-based intelligence. They knew what they wanted the intelligence to show. They were really blind and deaf to any countervailing information..”