Blair vs the BBC, pt II

BBC set to sue Minister over Iraq 'lies' claim

Legal threat deepens crisis over weapons dossiers

Kamal Ahmed and Martin Bright
Sunday June 29, 2003
The Observer

The unprecedented row between the Government and the BBC took a dramatic twist last night when Andrew Gilligan, the reporter at the centre of claims that Number 10 deliberately 'sexed up' evidence against Saddam Hussein, announced he was ready to sue a serving Minister.

Gilligan, the defence correspondent for Radio 4's Today programme, said that he would take legal action against Phil Woolas, the Deputy Leader of the House, unless he received a full apology for allegations made against him.

The threat of legal action centres on a letter sent by Woolas to Gilligan which claimed that the reporter had misled the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, which is conducting an inquiry into the Government's handling of the run-up to war.

Maybe this is relevant?

Ministers knew war papers were forged, says diplomat

US official who identified documents incriminating Iraq as fakes says Britain must have been aware of findings

By Andrew Buncombe in Washington and Raymond Whitaker in London
29 June 2003

A high-ranking American official who investigated claims for the CIA that Iraq was seeking uranium to restart its nuclear programme last night accused Britain and the US of deliberately ignoring his findings to make the case for war against Saddam Hussein.

The retired US ambassador said it was all but impossible that British intelligence had not received his report - drawn up by the CIA - which revealed that documents, purporting to show a deal between Iraq and the west African state of Niger, were forgeries. When he saw similar claims in Britain's dossier on Iraq last September, he even went as far as telling CIA officials that they needed to alert their British counterparts to his investigation

Steve Gilliard

Posted June 29, 2003 03:51 AM | Comments (54)