British Govt tried to kill BBC reporter Gilligan: ex-BBC official Greg Dyke

Hindustan Times ^

[DeaconBenjamin]

Greg Dyke, former director general of the BBC, has claimed that the British Government "tried to kill" Andrew Gilligan.

Reporter Gilligan broke the story that British intelligence had "sexed up" a dossier on Iraq that sought to justify Britain's support for US-led invasion of the country.

"The Government tried to kill him," claimed Dyke about Gilligan, who was forced out of his job at the BBC in January in the wake of the Hutton report that inquired into the death of scientist David Kelly. Kelly was the main source for Gilligan.

Dyke was speaking at the Cheltenham Festival of Literature in Gloucestershire on Saturday night.

According to The Independent on Sunday, Dyke also told the audience that he was twice offered a deal by the Government.

[Gibtx]

this is spin spin spin ..... try and keep the conservatives from getting a leg up... this is the pre beating in britian

[Texas Eagle]

Is the "director general of BBC" equivalent to what we would call the "CBS Evening News anchor"?

[cripplecreek]

Apparently not all recycled garbage is usefull. Oh well leave it to beeber.

[Doc Savage]

Bad aim????

[bubman]

I see a movie deal!!!

[bubman]

Jesus, how many idiots are there out there? Who believes this crap? X Files are a TV show, not the real thing!!!

[Dick Vomer]

the story makes something beautiful... look so cheap and distasteful.

[Phsstpok]

something about "unadulterated..."

What was that phrase?

[vpintheak]

I don't think he would be alive if they really tried to kill him. I mean he is a reporter after all, and this is not the movies.

[reformedliberal]

I'm not a Brit, but it sounds like he is a suit and given the Government involvement in BBC, maybe it is equivalent to a civil service job here.

[yooper]

They also tried to kill Skipper, Mary Ann, and Thurston Howell the 3rd. These attempts failed because MI6 was spending too much time on the assassination of Princess Diana.

[Unam Sanctam]

Unlike here, defamation laws in Britain have some real teeth. Could Mr. Dyke be subject to suit for slander here?

[elizabetty]

I suspect if the British government wanted to kill him they would have. This is ridiculous.

[Fedora]

They tried to kill him, but the Professor fended them off using a coconut-based defense system.

[Trippin]

What is truly sad is that a stupid conspiracy theorist used to be entrusted with what is clearly one of the most powerful media organization in the UK, if not the world. Anyone who still believes that Bush is the one spinning the facts have to have their heads examined.

The media has become shockingly inept and corrupt. This trend is more worrisome to me than the threat of another terrorist attack. If this media corruption continues, it will erode the fabric of the civilized world and democracies will suffer as a result.

[Chode]

right... like the Brits couldn't make these POS's dissappear let alone die if they wanted them to??? please

[jocko12]

If the Brits wanted to get rid of Galligan he would have been gone a long
time ago.

[DeaconBenjamin]

I'm still waiting for someone to point out that Gilligan's story was discredited, and disavowed by the BBC, and led to Dyke being sacked, yet this story makes it sound like Gilligan's story was nonfiction.

[Chgogal]

Yeah, a professional assassin would have a real tough time killing this incompetent...the one who claimed the 3rd ID wasn't at the Baghdad Airport from a telephone booth (making this up) in Baghdad proper. Please! LOL