BBC, Alastair Campbell and that dossier.

[Dauphin]

It just won't go away.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1-727673,00.html

I find these to be amusing:

Mr Campbell hit back immediately at the Sambrook letter, saying

"It confirms that the BBC broadcast a story that was hugely damaging to the integrity of the Government and the Prime Minister without knowing that story to be true and without any effort to check whether the story was true or not."

"It confirms our central charge that they do not have a shred of evidence to justify their lie, broadcast many times on many outlets, that we deliberately exaggerated and abused British intelligence and so mislead Parliament and the public."

"The allegations were outrageous. So is Mr Sambrook's reply. If the BBC are now saying that their journalism is now based on the principle that they can report what any source said, then BBC standards are now debased beyond belief.

Then we find out..

The letters were released after Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, defended the inclusion of the 45-minute claim in the dossier.

Ministers have admitted it was based on a single intelligence report and had not been corroborated by another independent source, as is usually the case with intelligence material.

Anyone else see the irony.

[Cruddy]

Yeah, I get it BC - the govt uses an "unsubstantiated" report to make the case that Iraq had WMD.

Then when the BBC uses one "unsubstantiated" report to confirm Alastair Campbell is a lying cheating sh1t, he gets all moody and defsenive.

Mind you, he's a Campbell. Not surprising I instrinctively hate him.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Cruddy

Mind you, he's a Campbell. Not surprising I instrinctively hate him.

Would your name be MacDonald by any chance?

[Cruddy]

Originally posted by Agathon


Would your name be MacDonald by any chance?

I'm taking the 5th amendment on that.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Cruddy

I'm taking the 5th amendment on that.

Caught!

[chequita guevara]

What is this Campbell's and MacDonald's you whisper of?

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Clan warfare. Between them they showered the highlands in each other's guts.

[The Viceroy]

I know its going slightly off topic, but I think its about time the British public had a choice to pay for the BBC or not. I can choose to have Sky Movies or not, why am I forced to pay £100 a year for the BBC ..

What really gets up my nose is, the Government and the BBC try to cover their backsides over this, while our troops (and American troops) are giving their lives each day for Iraq. Maybe we should send the journalists and politicians to police iraq instead .

[Cruddy]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
What is this Campbell's and MacDonald's you whisper of?

Mostly about this - click me

To this day, if you go into many Scottish pubs and let on you're a Campbell, you will be chased out of that pub (and sometimes clean out of town).

[Drogue]

Originally posted by The Viceroy
Maybe we should send the journalists... to iraq instead.

They did, and one died. Much as many journalists are scum, I think arguing about whether those soldiers are died in a just and legal war is important. If Blair mislead the house then he should be removed from office, as that is a gross breach of the democratic system. However if the BBC are lying, they should apologise as asked. To be honest, I suspect both should happen. Much as I think Blair lied about the 45 minutes, I think the BBC have gone way to far with this. Straw acted on a single piece of intelligence information. The BBC acted on a piece of malicious information. There is a fine line between a free press and a press that is not held to account for anything that they say. I think they crossed that line. The press should be free, but they should also be held to account as show that what they print is substantiated. So much at the moment reports just twist things and put a spin on things, far worse than #10 spin doctors, just to get a story.

Take that whole thing about the guy who said he wanted to raise tax. He said he wanted to raise the level at which you become a higher rate tax payer and thus raise the higher tax rate to pay for it. It means those on lower middle incomes (like £25-40000pa) pay less, and those on upper middle incomes (£40000+) pay more, with the same amount overall. All that was quoted was that he wanted to raise tax, not that he wanted to raise part and lower part, meaning no gain in overall tax.

IMHO it is not the spin doctors putting spin onto stories, it is the newpapers who have a vested interest. They don't want to provide the public information, they want to sell papers. With the Sun telling half the country how and what to think, it's not surprising we have all this unrest over asylum seekers and motor transport. If people saw both sides, not just what the paper wants them to see, they would be much more balanced in their opinions.

Sorry for the rant, but I think newspapers, especially the tabloid mogels like Piers Morgan, Rupert Murdock, Max Clifford et al. should be held accountable for what they print. If they have evidence, then great. If not, stop printing gossip and slander just to sell papers

[Evil Knevil]

What really gets up my nose is, the Government and the BBC try to cover their backsides over this, while our troops (and American troops) are giving their lives each day for Iraq. Maybe we should send the journalists and politicians to police iraq instead.

Bah!

The most important question is, who else would have (un)covered this story? Who else would have the will? That is why the BBC should stay as it is.

Trust me, I work for the enemy and the BBC's independence sounds alot better than the raw deal we get.

[lightblue]

You can say what you want, but i would not want to debate with Campbell. Did any of you see him on Channel 4 News ripping Jon Snow to shreds? The man is a genius, and knows it, which is probably part of the problem...

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by lightblue
You can say what you want, but i would not want to debate with Campbell. Did any of you see him on Channel 4 News ripping Jon Snow to shreds? The man is a genius, and knows it, which is probably part of the problem...

He'll be too clever to get caught over this...

[Cruddy]

Right. So if Campbell didn't doctor the dossier and the security services have washed their hands of it, who did deceive Parliament and the British public?

You think Blair will take the fall? He'll want to protect Campbell if possible... but if no other scapegoat emerges he won't have any choice.

[Drogue]

I'm not so sure. I'd love to debate with him. Jon Snow is clever, but not sharp or lively enough to get him, but there isn't enough substance behind all that good arguing. He's clever, but he's not above slipping up. I don't think he'll be caught, because people are after politicians blood. I think he might get them out of this though.