Transcript

TONY JONES: The second Australian scientist who worked on the fruitless hunt for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction has broken his silence. John Gee has followed Rod Barton in claiming he gave the Government early warning in 2004 that no weapons would be found. But Dr Gee says his expert views were not welcome in Canberra and he's accused the Government of trying to smother his assessment after he arrived home from Baghdad. From Canberra, Greg Jennett reports.

GREG JENNETT: John Gee hunted weapons for a career. An expert on chemical weapons, he'd been sent to Baghdad to work with the Iraq Survey Group in search of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Dr Gee soon concluded he was looking for something that didn't exist, but could not shake the conviction of his American colleagues that they were out there somewhere.

DR JOHN GEE, FORMER WEAPONS INSPECTOR: There seemed to be a preconceived notion that there was something there. That there were weapons of mass destruction still in Iraq. That, it seemed to me, blinded those involved in the hunt to the realities on the ground.

GREG JENNETT: Annoyed and frustrated, he quit in March 2004. In his letter of resignation, he said: "I have no confidence in the integrity of the process here," and accused the CIA-led Survey Group of: "Trying to justify (pre-war) judgements, rather than an attempt to establish the facts."

The letter amounted to an assault on the reason for going to war and it reached the Foreign Affairs Department in Canberra. Dr Gee flew home to be told it hadn't gone any further; that the letter was not sent to Defence, the department which paid him to go to Baghdad.

DR JOHN GEE: I was told when I got back here that the Minister for Foreign Affairs had blocked its wider distribution beyond DFAT.

GREG JENNETT: Alexander Downer denies he ordered any cover-up.

ALEXANDER DOWNER, FOREIGN MINISTER: I personally gave no instructions that it was to be or wasn't to be distributed to anyone.

GREG JENNETT: Within days of arriving home, John Gee had a meeting with Mr Downer, telling him directly of his belief that no weapons would be found.

DR JOHN GEE: His reaction was to say basically, "Let's wait and see what the Iraq Survey Group report says and then we'll come to a judgement on that." And I said, "Well I can assure you, Minister it's not going to come to any conclusions other than those I've just stated."

GREG JENNETT: But in that election year, John Gee's concerns were not to be reflected in Government statements for many months to come.

ALEXANDER DOWNER: Well, I think you know obviously our optimism gradually declined as time went on - I thought they would.

GREG JENNETT: Dr Gee took his message to the Defence Department and even to the Prime Minister's office. But at every turn, he says he was met with polite indifference, leaving him with the impression that the Government simply did not want to hear what he had to say. The sense of isolation was shared by John Gee's friend and fellow-weapons inspector Rod Barton, who went public with his frustrations a year ago.

ROD BARTON, FORMER WEAPONS INSPECTOR: It's not that we weren't believed. I think it was accepted about what we were saying, it was just that they didn't want to hear the message. They didn't like the message.

GREG JENNETT: Even though it proved to be the truth. Greg Jennett, Lateline.