PETERSFIELD'S MP Michael Mates has spoken this week of his role on the highly-secret Intelligence and Security Commons Committee.

The committee was thrown into the spotlight last week when it reported on the Government and the intelligence servicesÕ assessment of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Mr Mates told The Herald this week that looking into how intelligence on Iraq was handled had been a Òfascinating exerciseÓ.

ÒWe have been very privileged to see all the necessary assessments made by the Joint Intelligence Committee and, more crucially, the raw intelligence reports, known as CX reports, which came in from the field, and on which the assessments were based,Ó he said.

ÒThe broad conclusion we came to was that there was no intent to mislead or to exaggerate any of the intelligence, although mistakes were made in the wording of the famous September dossier.Ó

Mr Mates added: ÒBut the most important fact, which has so far been ignored by the media, is that the intelligence assessments only formed part of the rationale for taking action.

ÒAcquiring intelligence is a difficult art, particularly within a country ruled so despotically and cruelly as Iraq. People involved in government there at any level - remember Saddam executed his own sons-in-law - lived in permanent fear for their lives and the lives of their families, so it is not surprising that, even now, scientists and others are reluctant to talk and will remain so until the coalition can either capture Saddam or prove that he is dead.Ó

Mr Mates said the Iraq Survey Group, which is searching for evidence of the weapons Saddam held in defiance of United Nations resolutions, is due to publish an interim report shortly.

He added: ÒIt will make interesting reading, and will reinforce much of the intelligence that our agencies reported, but we are still a long way from being able to draw final conclusions as to what was really available to Saddam.

ÒMeanwhile the coalition are making slow but steady progress in trying to restore some form of normality there.

ÒIt will be a long and difficult job, but we must see it through to a conclusion. A democratic Iraq , ruled with the consent of its people free from fear, and able to rejoin the international community, is what the world expects from us after our intervention. We must make every effort to deliver.Ó