The Iraqi government did not publicly comment on the use of chemical weapons at Halabja until 23 March and early statements by Iraqi officials on the matter were inconsistent. Although Iraq ultimately denied responsibility for the attack and blamed it on Iran, its initial silence and the fact that Halabja was never a major part of Iraq's wartime propaganda campaign against Iran raises questions about the sincerity of this deflection. International response at the time was muted. The United States intelligence and government suggested that Kurdish civilians were not a deliberate target, and even that Iran was indeed responsible. The United States Defense Intelligence Agency and CIA analyst Stephen C. Pelletiere claimed at the time that Iran was responsible for the gassing (a claim that Pelletiere repeated in a 2003 op-ed in "The New York Times"); however, these claims were later discredited. A briefing paper by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office stated: "We believe it better to maintain a dialogue with others if we want to influence their actions. Punitive measures such as unilateral sanctions would not be effective in changing Iraq's behaviour over chemical weapons, and would damage British interests to no avail." According to Tony Benn it was raised in UK parliament but he was told "Saddam was an ally".