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2005-01-24 Fifth Column

What the BBC Knew About Saddam's WMD, and Why They Lied

I know we're not supposed to post from blogs, but this is analysis a book on Saddam Hussein's WMDs written by the BBC's version of Dan Rather and Walter Cronkite (Robert Harris and Jeremy Paxman). Long excerpts from the book, interesting discussion thereof. Hat tip Instapundit.

Opening statement: While I was trying to find out whether BBC reporter and presenter Jeremy Paxman had explicitly endorsed the idea that HIV is a manufactured virus (see previous post) -- apparently he did not -- I came across a new 2002 edition of his book, A Higher Form of Killing: The Secret Story of Chemical & Biological Warfare, with a newly written final chapter; and the final chapter said something which, in the context of the way the BBC has covered the Iraq war, is almost as startling.

Most of that final chapter is a strong argument trying to convince the reader that Saddam Hussein kept his arsenal of chemical and biological weapons after the first Gulf War, and that, at the time of the writing and publication of the new edition in 2001 and 2002, Saddam had an active program of producing chemical and biological weapons. Indeed, the new chapter is one of the most powerfully persuasive pieces of writing in favor of the idea of taking action against Saddam Hussein that I've ever seen. If I didn't know better, I might have guessed that Tony Blair or Christopher Hitchens had written it. snip

They're on the other side. Confirmation of everything the CIA and everyone else claimed, and the BBC chooses to lie.

Posted by trailing wife 2005-01-24 3:20:46 PM|| || Front Page|| [11136 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Very interesting and revealing. The Beeb has had its tit in a wringer over the scientist suicide investigation as well (last summer).

Posted by Captain America 2005-01-24 5:01:24 PM|| 2005-01-24 5:01:24 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 Same old question. Would a MSM journalist or reporter seeing an ambush waiting for a US GI patrole warn the GIs?

Posted by SwissTex 2005-01-24 5:26:27 PM|| 2005-01-24 5:26:27 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 "Do it to Julia!"

I love the BBC.

Posted by Dishman 2005-01-24 5:37:29 PM|| 2005-01-24 5:37:29 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Confirmation of everything the CIA and everyone else claimed, and the BBC chooses to lie.

Well, from the available facts at the moment, it's more like, "Paxman and Harris were just as wrong as the CIA and every other Western intelligence service."

I was really struck, reading the excerpts from Paxman's book, at how the emphasis was not on the sinister intentions of Hussein, but on the guilt of the West. Western nations gave him (indeed, the entire world) the idea of CBW. Western companies were at fault for selling him harmless equipment which he turned to weapons use. Western intelligence was culpable for not realizing it sooner. The US is at fault for not signing on to disarmament treaties. Saddam himself comes in for far less criticism in these passages than does the West.

You read this sort of thing from fevered moonbats in blog comment sections, or deduce them from the signs carried by giant puppets in protest marches -- but here it is in one neat package, written by men who have some pretence to credible, sober journalism. It's absolutely jaw-dropping.

Posted by Angie Schultz 2005-01-24 6:38:54 PM|| [http://darkblogules.blogspot.com] 2005-01-24 6:38:54 PM|| Front Page Top

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