Arise, Sir Dodgy Dossier

JOHN SCARLETT is the man who, in 2002, 'sexed up' the notorious dossier that 'justified' Blair's support for the invasion of Iraq. As head of Britain's Joint Intelligence Committee, he dished up spurious claims such as that Saddam could launch weapons of mass destruction against the West in 45 minutes.

During the whitewashing Hutton enquiry after the death of weapons expert David Kelly, he testified that Blair and Co put no pressure on him to spice up the document to provide 'evidence' to justify their military adventure.

For this, Scarlett was promoted to head the MI6 security service. Now he has been knighted in the New Year's honours list. Socialists say that Scarlett should not have been promoted and given a knighthood. He should have been sacked and the undemocratic secret intelligence services, that are a threat to our democratic rights, should have been abolished.