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Bcc slammed intelligence claim Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=312369&contrassID=1 http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=312369&contrassID=1 Last Update: 29/06/2003 07:49 BBC slammed for claim U.K. fixed intelligence to justify war By The Associated Press LONDON - Government ministers on Saturday increased pressure on the British Broadcasting Corp. to apologize for reporting that officials doctored intelligence information to justify war with Iraq. The feud between Prime Minister Tony Blair's government and the public broadcaster has roiled on all week, with Blair's powerful communications chief, Alastair Campbell, accusing the BBC and its defense correspondent Andrew Gilligan of lying. Gilligan reported last month that the government had exaggerated the scale of the Iraqi weapons threat to convince skeptical lawmakers of the need for war. In a BBC radio report, he claimed Blair aides had redrafted an intelligence dossier to include claims that Saddam Hussein could launch chemical and biological weapons at 45 minutes' notice. "The story was a lie," Campbell replied in a statement Friday. "It is a lie." Campbell and ministers insist they did not doctor the dossier, and say the BBC should not have run the story, which cited an unidentified intelligence official. "There are quite clear BBC guidelines that you should not rely on a single anonymous source," Ben Bradshaw, the government fisheries minister and a former BBC journalist, said Saturday. Bradshaw said the BBC had made no attempt to corroborate the story or give the government a right of reply before it "broadcast the most serious accusation I can ever remember being leveled at any government." The BBC said the Ministry of Defense had been told of the report before it was broadcast and was offered a chance to respond. But Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said Saturday that no such chance had been offered, and asked the BBC to apologize. "Andrew Gilligan did not call the MoD to discuss WMD (weapons of mass destruction) or the dossier," Hoon said in a statement. "He spoke to the MoD about an interview request for the following day on a different issue altogether." The disagreement is the worst feud between the government and the BBC since the 1982 Falklands War, when members of Margaret Thatcher's government accused the broadcaster of undermining the British war effort. Some opposition politicians have accused the government of using the row to divert attention from the failure of coalition forces in Iraq to find evidence of weapons of mass destruction.

Bcc slammed intelligence claim Blair accused of exaggerating { May 30 2003 } Blair accused of purposely overstating iraq threat { December 15 2006 } Blair aide debated iraq threat { August 18 2003 } Blair ignored cia warnings { July 13 2003 } Blair linked god to iraq war decision { March 5 2006 } Blair planned iraq invasion nine months before invasion { May 1 2005 } Blair testify government sexed up dossier { August 24 2003 } Blair urged to defend war Blair will unearth evidence { May 31 2003 } Britain had to make illegal war legal { June 12 2005 } Britain spied on kofi annan British experts protested iraq dossier { September 4 2003 } British government attacks bbc { June 26 2003 } Brits security not a concern before iraq invasion { December 15 2006 } Bush blair tried to provoke saddam into war { March 27 2006 } Bush discusses operation iraqi liberation with blair Cheney fought against blair multilateral strategy { January 25 2004 } Cia fooled by british intelligence { July 14 2003 } Conern iraq nuclear Days after 911 bush blair talked iraq { April 4 2004 } Intelligence chief dossier exaggerated case for war Panel clears blair Third bbc official out bawks at lord hutton report Files Listed: 24

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