Wednesday, March 23, 2005

SIS to be Reformed

First of all, it is not MI6. The organisation is called the Secret Intelligence Service, or sometimes the SIS. It's pedantic, but I'm sure it's true. MI5 does intelligence work inside the UK and the SIS does it abroad. Look at this link to the SIS, actually no, I don't have the bottle. Look it up on a search engine instead (try "Secret Intelligence Service"). Even the SIS has to say that they are "commonly known as MI6" on their recruitment page. That building that you always see on the news, you know, the one beside the river that looks a bit like a wedding cake, that building is not the headquarters of MI6 because there is no MI6! It might be the headquarters of the SIS, although if you were to go into reception and ask them, they wouldn't tell you. A quick check and I find that it was called MI6 (Military Intelligence, section 6) until 1922 when it became the SIS. For doubters, look at this picture on Wikipedia. See what they call it?

Rant over. I feel better for writing that. I'm still not smoking (day 10). Can you tell?

So, the government has announced that the SIS and other intelligence services are to be reformed following the Butler report. Read about it here.
The BBC on the Butler report quotes Mr Blair as responding to the report by saying:
"The evidence of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction was indeed less certain and less well-founded than was stated at the time."

Stated by who, I wonder? Mr Blair, the liar, that's who. The intelligence services had provided any number of caveats as Lord Butler noted. Mr Blair also said he took "full responsibility" for the errors. Oh well, once a liar, always a liar.

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