[Peace-discuss] Suppressing the BBC

Thu Jan 29 10:36:50 CST 2004

[There's a remarkable story unfolding in Britain now, about how Tony
Blair's "New Labour" government (as unprincipled and corporate-friendly as
Clinton's "New Democrats") has been able to destroy the (very gentle)
criticism it received from the BBC in the run-up to the attack on Iraq.
The best short account I've seen so far follows.  --CGE]

	BBC At War
	M'Lord Hutton Blesses Blair's Attack on
	BBC's Investigation of Iraq War Claims
	By: Greg Palast

He did not say, "hello," or even his name, just left a one-word message:  
"Whitewash."

It came from an embattled journalist whispering from inside the bowels of
a television and radio station under siege, on a small island off the
coast of Ireland:  from BBC London.

And another call, from a colleague at the Guardian:  "The future of
British journalism is very bleak."

However, the future for fake and farcical war propaganda is quite bright
indeed.  Today, Lord Hutton issued his report that followed an inquiry
revealing the Blair government's manipulation of intelligence to claim
that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass murder threatening imminent attack
on London.

Based on the Blair government's claim, headlines pumped the war hysteria:
SADDAM COULD HAVE NUCLEAR BOMB IN YEAR, screeched the London Times. BRITS
45 MINS FROM DOOM, shrieked the Sun newspaper.

Given these facts only a sissy pacifist, a lunatic or a Saddam fellow
traveler would fail to see that Prime Minister "Winston" Blair had no
choice but to re-conquer its former Mesopotamian colony.

But these headline were, in fact, false, and deadly so.  Unlike America's
press puppies, BBC reporters thought it their duty to check out these life
or death claims.  Reporters Andrew Gilligan and Susan Watts contacted a
crucial source, Britain's and the United Nation's top weapons inspector.  
He told reporter Watts that the Weapons of Mass Destruction claims by
Blair and our own President Bush were, "all spin."  Gilligan went further,
reporting that this spin, this "sexed up" version of intelligence, was the
result of interventions by Blair's PR henchman, Alistair Campbell.

Whatever reading of the source's statements, it was clear that
intelligence experts had deep misgivings about the strength of the
evidence for war.

The source?  Dr. David Kelly.  To save itself after the reports by
Gilligan and Watts, the government, including the Prime Minister himself,
went on an internal crusade to out the name of its own intelligence
operative so it could then discredit the news items.

Publishing the name of an intelligence advisor is serious stuff.  In the
USA, a special criminal prosecutor is now scouring the White House to find
the person who publicly named a CIA agent.  If found, the Bushite leaker
faces jail time.

Blair's government was not so crude as to give out Dr. Kelly's name.  
Rather, they hit on a subterfuge of dropping clues then allowing reporters
to play '20 questions' - if Kelly's name were guessed, they'd confirm it.  
Only the thickest reporters (I name none here) failed after more than a
couple tries.

Dr. Kelly, who had been proposed for knighthood was named, harangued and
his career destroyed by the outing. He then took his own life.

But today is not a day of mourning at 10 Downing Street, rather a day of
self-congratulations.

There were no weapons of mass destruction, no nuclear warhead just short
of completion, no "45 minutes to doom" bombs auguring a new London blitz.  
The exile group which supplied this raw claim now calls the 45 minute
story, "a crock of shit."

Yet Blair's minions are proclaiming their vindication.

This is not just a story about what is happening "over there" in the
United Kingdom.  This we must remember:  David Kelly was not only advisor
to the British but to the UN and, by extension, the expert for George W.
Bush.  Our commander-in-chief leaped to adopt the Boogey Man WMD stories
from the Blair government when our own CIA was reticent.

So M'Lord Hutton has killed the messenger:  the BBC.  Should the reporter
Gilligan have used more cautious terms?  Some criticism is fair.  But the
extraordinary import of his and Watts' story is forgotten:  our two
governments bent the information then hunted down the questioners.

And now the second invasion of the Iraq war proceeds:  the conquest of the
British Broadcasting Corporation.  Until now, this quasi-governmental
outlet has refused to play Izvestia to any prime minister, Labour or Tory.

As of today, the independence of the most independent major network on
this planet is under attack.  Blair's government is "cleared" and now
arrogantly sport their kill, the head of Gavyn Davies, BBC's chief, who
resigned today.

"The bleak future for British journalism" portends darkness for
journalists everywhere - the threat to the last great open platform for
hard investigative reporting.  And frankly, it's a worrisome day for me.  
I'm not a disinterested by-stander.  My most important investigations, all
but banned from US airwaves, were developed and broadcast by BBC
Newsnight, reporter Watts' program.

Will an iron curtain descend on the news?  Before dawn today, I was
reading Churchill's words to the French command in the hours before as the
Panzers breached the defenses of Paris.  Churchill told those preparing to
surrender, "Whatever you may do, we shall fight on forever and ever and
ever."  This may yet be British journalism's Finest Hour.

*****

Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Best
Democracy Money Can Buy.  His reports for BBC Newsnight and The Guardian
papers and other writings may be viewed at www.GregPalast.com.

***** 

Join Greg, Janeane Garafalo, Tom Tomorrow, and others for the launching of
the Greg Palast Non-Profit Investigative Foundation and Release of his new
CD from Alternative Tentacles, "Greg Palast, Weapon of Mass Instruction -
Live and Uncensored."  For more details on the party check out:  
http://www.gregpalast.com/store.htm

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