Michael Laurie
Michael Laurie CBE was appointed Chief Executive of Crimestoppers UK in August 2003 [1]
Contents
Military Career
Laurie trained at the British Military Academy, Sandhurst prior to being commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1969. He served as a Military Engineer in the Gulf, Belize and, in Northern Ireland as an infantry officer. He later transferred to the Intelligence Corps where he focused on counter terrorism operations.
Laurie was promoted to Brigadier and appointed as Director of the Intelligence Corps in 1994 making him head of the British Army's professional intelligence operations. He was promoted to Major General in 2001 and appointed to an intelligence staff position at the Ministry of Defence in 2001; firstly as Director of Joint Warfare and latterly as Director General of Intelligence Collection when he became heavily involved in the processing and interpretation of intelligence in the run up to the Invasion of Iraq in March 2003 [1]
Chilcott Inquiry
Laurie gave evidence to the Iraq War Inquiry in June 2003 [2]. The session was held in private but released to the public with redactions soon afterwards [3] Laurie had previously sent an email letter to the Inquiry on 27 January 2011, disputing the evidence given by Alistair Campbell on 12 January 2011. [4] In spite of its sensational content and the Chairman having referred to it in his welcoming statement, the letter did not figure prominently in Inquiry questioning of Laurie when he later attended in person to give his evidence the following June. [2]. Some have argued that this reflects the lack of forensic questioning abilities of the Inquiry panel; others point to typical establishment response mechanisms when faced with uncomfortable insider information.
MSM Commentary on the Laurie Letter
- Iraq inquiry: Campbell dossier evidence questioned - BBC News Politics 12 May 2011
- Secrets, lies and the case for the Iraq War - Daily Mail 13 May 2011
- Iraq dossier WAS sexed up, says intelligence chief - The First Post 13 May 2011
See Also
- Iraq Inquiry Web site
- Iraq Inquiry Digest - Unofficial web site
- Downing Street Memo - WikiSpooks Downing street memo page + document collection
References
- ↑ a b Michael Laurie bio - Crimestoppers UK
- ↑ a b File:Laurie-Evidence.pdf - Transcript of Major General Michael Laurie questioning and evidence at the Iraq War Inquiry - June 2010
- ↑ Evidence given in private sessions - Iraq Inquiry Web Site
- ↑ File:Laurie-statement-FINAL.pdf - Major General Michael Laurie - letter to the Iraq Inquiry re Alistair Campbell's evidence
