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| Britain |
| Blair Stands Firm as BBC Says Scientist Was Source |
| 2003-07-20 |
| LONDON/SEOUL (Reuters) - Britain’s Tony Blair ruled out resigning over the suicide of a defense expert whom the BBC identified on Sunday as its main source for an accusation that the government exaggerated the case for war in Iraq. resigning? bwahahahah "You’ve got to have broad shoulders in this job...I’ve got them," the prime minister said on an Asia tour overshadowed by the death of mild-mannered scientist and former U.N. weapons inspector David Kelly. Fueling a blame game that has dominated UK politics, the British Broadcasting Corporation confirmed Kelly was "the principal source" for its bombshell allegation that London hyped intelligence over Iraq’s weapons to justify an unpopular war. "The BBC is profoundly sorry that his involvement as our source has ended so tragically," BBC head of news Richard Sambrook said in a carefully worded statement. Politicians said the BBC’s admission called its whole report into question, and Blair said he was pleased it had confirmed Kelly’s role as the source. "Whatever the differences, no one wanted this tragedy to happen," he said in a statement. Speaking in Asia, a defensive Blair also rejected suggestions he should curtail his trip or recall parliament from its summer break to debate what drove Kelly, 59, to slit his wrist in woodland near his Oxfordshire home on Thursday. Two days before, Kelly was grilled in parliament over his role as a Ministry of Defense source who spoke to the author of a BBC story that Blair’s communications chief Alastair Campbell "sexed up" a September dossier on Saddam Hussein’s weapons. The BBC allegation that Campbell exaggerated intelligence to indicate Saddam could mobilize weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes is at the center of claims Blair misled the British public and parliament over the case for war. Kelly’s death has left Blair, 50, facing the biggest political crisis of his six-year rule and turned a week-long foreign trip into a nightmare. After a rapturous reception in the United States for his support on Iraq, Blair heard the news about Kelly on the plane to Japan and has looked ashen-faced ever since. BBC UNDER PRESSURE In the unseemly recriminations over Kelly’s death, critics of the government say it put him under intolerable pressure by face the limelight in an effort to discredit the BBC report and therefore clear Campbell and Blair. But the BBC, which had until Sunday refused to confirm whether or not Kelly was its source, is charged with heightening the media frenzy around him. His position also did not fit the BBC’s description of him as a senior intelligence source. Kelly’s local member of parliament, Robert Jackson, said BBC Chairman Gavyn Davies and Director General Greg Dyke should quit. "If they had made this statement while Dr Kelly was alive, I believe he would still be alive," he said. In its statement on Sunday, the BBC said it "believes we accurately interpreted and reported" information from Kelly. That backing of its journalist Andrew Gilligan was at odds with Kelly’s own comments to a parliamentary committee that he did not provide the crucial 45-minute claim in the BBC report. If Kelly was the source but did not make that claim, it would strengthen the Blair government’s accusation that Gilligan hyped his report. He and Campbell have a long-running enmity. Ignoring calls to resign from radical members of his own ruling Labour Party, Blair urged people to wait for the results of a judicial inquiry and said he would accept responsibility if there was any wrongdoing by members of his administration. Beyond the debate, Kelly’s family echoed a sentiment of disgust among many Britons with the whole "Westminster Village" world of British media and politics. "Events over recent weeks have made David’s life intolerable and all of those involved should reflect long and hard over that fact," they said. |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #3 Via Lucianne from al Guardian: Cracks appear in BBC ranks as executives face staff revolt Journalists fear they may be tarnished by Kelly furore (You think?) Senior BBC executives seemed isolated from their own staff last night when the corporation implicitly accused David Kelly of failing to be entirely open when he appeared before MPs last week... But journalists, editors and presenters contacted by the Guardian yesterday questioned - on condition of anonymity - the credibility of this stance. They expressed doubt about the positions of Gilligan and Richard Sambrook, the director of news, who has given unswerving support to the reporter since he learned that Dr Kelly was his source. A few even talk darkly of revolt. Support for Gilligan, outside the increasingly fraught confines of the Today programme where he is defence and diplomatic correspondent, is slipping away.... --- I would think, with renewal so recent, this really has to be hitting them to the core. hehehehehehehehehehe "It's one thing if the top brass choose to go to the wall for Gilligan. It's quite another if they expect us to do it too," one insider said. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-7-20 11:07:50 PM |
| #2 Where are the reporter's notes or tape recording of the conversation? I read an interesting point: The timing of the release of the original story. Maybe the bbc deliberately waited to release it to do damage to Blair. I can't believe that, can you? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-7-20 9:51:43 PM |
#1 The BBC may claim to have "accurately interpreted and reported" Kelly's information, but former BBC correspondent Tom Mangold, writing in The Scotsman, isn't sure:"He [Kelly] told me then he was anxious that reporters who did not fully understand the politics and mechanics of weapons of mass destruction should understand quite clearly what Iraq had been up to, and why it might be difficult, perhaps impossible, to find actual weapons...Interesting profile of Kelly and backgrounder on the whole WMD thing. (Pointer from Wretchard the Cat). |
| Posted by: Old Grouch 2003-7-20 5:21:25 PM |