posted 02-10-2003 08:29 PM            

Iraq dossier assembled by junior aides
By Rosemary Bennett and Elaine Monaghan



DOWNING STREET’S embarrassment over its Iraq “intelligence” dossier deepened yesterday with the disclosure that key sections were cobbled together by junior communications unit staff, including Alastair Campbell’s secretary.

Officials also admitted that chunks of the document — praised by Colin Powell on Wednesday for its “exquisite detail” — were copied word-for-word from an article by a 29-year-old Californian academic.

The sentences were lifted from an article by Ibrahim al-Marishi, an Iraqi-American, in the September edition of Middle East Review of International Affairs. He, in turn, sourced his information to a 1999 book by the former weapons inspector Scott Ritter, who opposes President Bush’s Iraq policy.

Last night the US State Department said that General Powell was aware of the reports. “The British report contained good information. We’ll leave it to them to talk about how it was put together,” a senior official told The Times.