Saddam has "military plans" for chemical and biological weapons - dossier

Iraq has "military plans" for the use of chemical and biological weapons, the Government's long-awaited 50-page dossier on Saddam Hussein's regime claimed today.

But the document was swiftly condemned by one Labour rebel as a "damp squib" and a "PR stunt". And the Liberal Democrats said the dossier had "no clear evidence" of an imminent threat from Saddam.

The dossier, called 'Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction – The Assessment of the British Government', was published hours before MPs returned for an emergency recall of Parliament to debate the Iraq crisis.

Labour sceptics are determined to force a vote later tonight on a technical motion to show their opposition to any military action.

The document claims Iraq "has military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, including against its own Shia population".

Some of the weapons "are deployable within 45 minutes of an order to use them", it says.

Saddam has also "sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa, despite having no active civil nuclear programme that could require it".

The paper, compiled from published information and secret intelligence, says once Saddam has acquired nuclear material "Iraq could produce a nuclear weapon in between one and two years".

One Labour opponent of military action against Iraq, Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbott, told PA News: "The document is a damp squib.

"It really consists of a re–working of information that was already public.

"It seems more like a PR stunt than a serious attempt to bring new information forward.

"Tony Blair will have to do better than this if he wants to convince the British public to go to war."

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell said: "This dossier will require close scrutiny.

"At first glance, this dossier does not appear to show clear evidence of an immediate and imminent threat from Iraq.

"Nothing in this document should divert us from dealing with these matters through the United Nations."

But in his foreword to the paper Prime Minister Tony Blair says: "It is clear that, despite sanctions, the policy of containment has not worked sufficiently well to prevent Saddam from developing these weapons.

"I am in no doubt that the threat is serious and current, that he has made progress on Weapons of Mass Destruction and that he has to be stopped."

The Tories welcomed the report. Shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Having seen this document, we believe that the position the Prime Minister has taken is the correct one and we support him."

He added: "It is very much what we expected and indeed what we were looking for."

But Government whips expect between 15 and 50 Labour MPs to vote against the Government tonight on a technical motion on the adjournment of the House.

Nothing in the dossier is expected to convince them action against Saddam is justified.

Mr Blair will also have talks tonight with one of the chief EU sceptics on military action against Saddam, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, after his narrow election win at the weekend.

The document – published as campaigners sang Give Peace a Chance outside the House of Commons – claims Iraq has "tried covertly to acquire technology and materials which could be used in the production of nuclear weapons".

It says specialists have been recalled to work on a nuclear programme.

The dossier alleges that Iraq has retained up to 20 al–Hussein missiles, with a range of 400 miles (650km), capable of carrying chemical or biological warheads.

It also asserts that Iraq has developed mobile laboratories for military use "corroborating earlier reports about the mobile production of biological warfare agents".

The report states: "Intelligence also shows that Iraq is preparing to conceal evidence of these weapons, including incriminating documents, from renewed inspections."

The document says Saddam has a programme for the development of missiles capable of reaching the British base in Cyprus, Greece and Turkey, as well as all Iraq's neighbours in the Gulf region, including Israel.

It claims that if Iraq obtained fissile material "and other essential components from foreign sources ... Iraq could produce a nuclear weapon in between one and two years".

The document also charts what it says is the nature of Saddam's brutal and repressive regime.

It speaks of internal repression against Iraq's Kurd and Shia populations, with mass arrests and killings.

"Saddam uses patronage and violence to motivate his supporters and to control or eliminate opposition.

"Saddam practises torture, execution and other forms of coercion against his enemies, real or suspected.

"His targets are not only those who have offended him, but also their families, friends or colleagues."

Iraq dismissed the claims in the dossier as baseless.

"The British Prime Minister is serving the campaign of lies led by Zionists against Iraq. Blair is part of this misleading campaign," said the Iraqi culture minister Hammed Youssef Hammadi in Baghdad.

He said the claims about weapons in the document were "totally baseless".