Posted on 01/21/2004 5:29:54 AM PST by Mo1
The voice of David Kelly came from beyond the grave today after the BBC decided to broadcast a previously unseen interview with the weapons expert who apparently committed suicide last July.
In the interview he is asked whether he thought Iraq's weapons of mass destruction posed an "imminent threat". He replied "yes".
"Yes, they are. Even if they weren't actually filled and deployed today, the capability exists to to get them filled and deployed within days and weeks."
The interview is being broadcast tonight in a special edition of Panorama by investigative reporter John Ware, and will reignite the controversy over the BBC's original report, which alleged that the government inserted the claim that Iraq could deploy WMD within 45 minutes despite knowing it to be wrong.
It is not clear whether the BBC sought the permission of Dr Kelly's family. Dr Kelly, who was outed by the government as the scientist who met Andrew Gilligan, the BBC journalist at the centre of the Hutton inquiry, was found dead in an Oxfordshire wood on July 18 last year.
Gilligan's Today programme report, broadcast at 6.07am on May 29 last year, claimed the government has inserted the 45 minute claim knowing it to be wrong. Gilligan has since admitted this was a "slip of the tongue".
However, he defended the broad thrust of his story, which BBC bosses still believe reflected scepticism about the language used in the Iraq intelligence dossier.
It is understood that Panorama will air serious criticisms of the BBC's role in the Kelly affair. It will say the central charge made by Andrew Gilligan -that Downing Street "sexed up" the dossier on Iraq's weapons - was wrong.
The BBC gave Panorama unprecedented freedom to investigate its battle with the government. According to weekend reports, the special documentary, Fight to the Death, will highlight lax editorial procedures, the failure to flush out inconsistencies in Gilligan's story and delays caused by Greg Dyke, the corporation's director general, failing to realise there was a growing crisis.
Panorama editor Mike Robinson said the programme would be fair and impartial.
"We are not seeking to pre-empt Lord Hutton's verdict. Panorama will provide a factual account of the fight between the government and the BBC and some of the events surrounding it.
"The programme will be fair, accurate and impartial - including when dealing with difficult events involving the BBC.
"We believe the programme will live up to the audience's expectations of the BBC as an independent broadcaster of information that can be trusted," he told the BBC's website.
Peter Horrocks, the corporations head of current affairs, said that no senior executive involved in the Kelly story and no-one called before the inquiry has seen the programme.
He added that Panorama had received "complete independence of operation" to examine both the BBC and the government's conduct.
"This is Panorama's independent journalism rather than the BBC's corporate position," he told the corporation's website.
Panorama producer Mike Rudin has said that the programme would pull no punches as it reconstructs key episodes in the Kelly saga.
It will also present evidence culled from secret sources as well from as interviews and documents submitted to the inquiry.
"It's an incredible story. I've never worked on anything like it," said Rudin.
"Viewers will be left in no doubt about the implications of what happened and they will make their own judgment on how the people concerned conducted themselves," he added.
"Supine" civil servants led by the chairman of the joint intelligence committee, John Scarlett are mainly blamed for the "sexing up" in a bid to deliver what they thought politicians wanted to hear.
Lord Hutton's report into the circumstances surrounding David Kelly's death will be released next Wednesday.
"Yes, they are. Even if they weren't actually filled and deployed today, the capability exists to to get them filled and deployed within days and weeks."
Game....Set Match!
To protect the poor arabs from the CBA's of the brutal capitalist imperialist Americans, of course.
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