International Institute for Strategic Studies

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The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) describes itself as 'the world's leading authority on political-military conflict.Based in London, IISS is registerd as charity in UK, US and Singapore. Founded in 1958 the IISS has strong establishment links, with former US and British government officials among its members. The Foreign Office contributed £100,000 towards the setting up of its headquarters in central London, and the opening was attended by Thatcher and Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, then secretary general of Nato. Its early work focused on nuclear deterrence and arms control and was by its own account "hugely influential in setting the intellectual structures for managing the Cold War."[1]

Selling the Iraq War

IISS played a key role in furnishing the pretexts for the invasion of Iraq by publishing a dossier on Iraqi WMDs, on 9 September 2002, which was edited by Gary Samore, formerly of the US State Department, and presented by Dr John Chipman, a former Nato fellow.

The dossier was immediately seized on by Bush and Blair administrations as providing "proof" that Saddam was just months away from launching a chemical and biological, or even a nuclear attack. Large parts of the IISS document were subsequently recycled in the now notorious Downing Street dossier, published with a foreword by the Prime Minister, the following week.[2]

Unlike the British Government, IISS later claimed it made mistakes in its dossier about the extent of the Iraqi threat. It commissioned an independent assessment by Rolf Ekeus, a former head of United Nations arms inspectors in Iraq. Samore and Chipman now claim their dossier had caveats about Iraq's supposed WMD arsenal which the Government insisted on removing from intelligence assessments - leading to "sexing up" accusations.[3]

Pushing the bombing of Iran

In April 2006 The Institute was involved in briefing the media in which the BBC reported that Iran was 'on course' to develop nuclear weapons in 'three years'. On being challenged the Institute backed down slightly.[4] On 12 September 2007, IISS once again suggested Iran could have a nuclear weapon by 2009-2010, an estimate which is shared neither by the IAEA or US intelligence. It also went on to issue unsubstantiated warnings of a threat from a new and deadlier al-Qaida.[5]

Principals

President, President Emeritus and Vice-Presidents

The council

other associates

Contact, resources and notes

contact

Notes

  1. ↑ IISS About us
  2. ↑ Kim Sengupta, Iraq Occupation Made World Less Safe, Pro-War Institute Says Studies , The Independent, May 26, 2004
  3. ↑ Kim Sengupta, Iraq Occupation Made World Less Safe, Pro-War Institute Says Studies , The Independent, May 26, 2004
  4. ↑ The BBC, Iran and the Bomb The Cat's Blog, Wednesday, April 12, 2006
  5. ↑ Richard Norton-Taylor,Al-Qaida has revived, spread and is capable of a spectacular The Guardian, September 13, 2007
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