What's wrong with these folks.....haven't they heard. Blair says the Niger report is true. LOL
What Niger letter? They have Blair up on murder charges for the suicide of David Kelly. Right about now, I bet Blair is real sorry he ever heard of Iraq and GW Bush. <g>
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BBC
Blair denies ordering Kelly's naming
Prime Minister Tony Blair has "emphatically" denied he authorised Dr David Kelly's identity to be made public during the dispute over Iraqi weapons.
Mr Blair's comments came as speculation grows as to how Dr Kelly's identity came into the public domain.
The scientist was found dead in Oxfordshire on Friday after apparently committing suicide. On Sunday the BBC said he was the source for their report claiming Downing Street had "sexed up" a dossier on Iraq's illegal weapons.
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon stands accused by several newspapers of allowing Dr Kelly to be named as a "mole".
I don't think the BBC is out to get anybody
Sir Christopher Bland
In a separate development the Times says it has detected the first cracks in the board of governors of the BBC over their handling of the row.
But in a statement issued on Tuesday, BBC chairman Gavyn Davies said that all the governors stood by their earlier assertion that they believed it was in the public interest to broadcast the story about the way the case for war was presented.
He said: "I and my fellow governors learned that Dr Kelly was the principal source for both Andrew Gilligan's and Susan Watts' reports only after Dr Kelly's tragic death.
"This information does not require us to amend our unanimous statement of 6 July when governors made clear we were satisfied it was in the public interest to broadcast the stories by Andrew Gilligan and Susan Watts, given the information available at that time."
The Times had said an unnamed governor had demanded an emergency meeting to review whether the board had all the facts it needed when it issued a statement supporting the report by Mr Gilligan earlier this month.
Mr Davies has said there are no plans for a special meeting.
Independent
Sir Christopher Bland, ex-chairman of the BBC board of governors, said his former colleagues had not "leapt" to the defence of Mr Gilligan.
"They are 11 independent individuals with quite differing stances and they came to the conclusion that they supported the BBC's journalism," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
How David Kelly's name emerged
World's press mulls Kelly case
"They didn't do that lightly and they did it after careful consideration."
Sir Christopher said the board of governors had stood up "to incredible government pressure and bullying".
He dismissed accusations by former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson that the BBC was obsessed with a "vendetta" against the prime minister's director of communications Alastair Campbell.
"I don't think the BBC is out to get anybody. If there is an obsession and a vendetta, to an informed observer ... the vendetta was on the other foot."
Intense scrutiny
The row continues to dominate the UK's newspapers with the Financial Times saying Mr Hoon had approved a media strategy whereby the Ministry of Defence would confirm Dr Kelly's name to journalists if they suggested it.
The weapons expert apparently killed himself last Thursday, after coming under intense scrutiny from both the media and his own employers.
Geoff Hoon has been accused of exposing Dr David Kelly
According to the Daily Mirror, Mr Hoon was implicated in the naming of the scientist by Downing Street on Monday, when it said: "The matter was overseen by those at the appropriate level at the top of the MoD."
In the initial row which followed the story, the MoD did not name Dr Kelly - who had come forward to his employers - except in a confidential letter to the chairman of the BBC.
But the strategy of confirming his name meant three newspapers were able to deduce who he was.
Downing Street had also been "consulted" over the strategy, the FT said.
The Independent believes the MoD wanted to protect Dr Kelly's identity, but was overruled by Downing Street.
And the Telegraph said it was a Downing Street briefing which originally gave out enough clues about Dr Kelly's identity to enable journalists to guess it.
Hutton inquiry
The Telegraph said the BBC had also given out more details about its source's identity than it should have.
Senior judge, Lord Hutton, is to investigate the events which led to the apparent suicide of the weapons expert.
A spokesman said the MoD would not pre-empt the Hutton inquiry by commenting on the FT report. |
