Blair, the BBC, and the 45-minute claim
Opposition leader asks British PM to resign for not knowing full truth of a key prewar intelligence claim.
Britain's main opposition party leader, Michael Howard,
called on Prime Minister Tony Blair to resign, accusing Mr. Blair of a "
serious dereliction of duty."
Blair admitted Wednesday that when he read the intelligence that Iraq could launch weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes,
he was unaware that referred only to battlefield munitions, such as rockets or mortar shells, rather than extended-range missile capability.
Mr. Howard accused Blair of failing to ask crucial questions before committing Britain to war last March, reports the
Guardian.
I am accepting what the prime minister told us at face value. He said he never knew, he never bothered to ask this question. ... If I were prime minister and I had failed to ask that basic question before committing our country to war I would be seriously considering my position.
According to
The Guardian, these comments "
shift the debate over the prewar intelligence about WMD from questions about Mr. Blair's integrity to ones about his competence."
But, little more than a week after the Hutton inquiry exonerated the Blair government from blame regarding the exaggeration of the 45-minute claim, the heat continues to come from all quarters.
A 135-page confidential document leaked to
The Independent newspaper suggests that the
BBC was cowed by the government into apologizing for its claim that Downing Street "sexed up" intelligence on Iraq's WMD program. The
Independent reports that "BBC governors spurned their lawyers' advice that Lord Hutton's report was legally flawed and instead
offered the fulsome apology that Downing Street demanded." The document also accuses former Blair communications chief Alastair Campbell of making "false" statements to parliament over his role in drawing up the now infamous
September 2002 dossier laying out the Blair government's case for war.
The
BBC lawyers also outline 12 main areas Lord Hutton ignored in
his report, delivered Jan. 28, and say his findings were legally "wrong".
BBC governors
deny these claims.
The
BBC reports that
some of its staff are protesting around Britain against political "pressure and interference" applied to the corporation by the Blair government in the wake of the Hutton report. The
BBC was so heavily criticized in the report that Chairman Gavyn Davies and Director General Greg Dyke resigned last week. The
BBC also gave a full public apology demanded by the Blair government after the Hutton findings were released.
The Guardian reports that the
BBC's governors are meeting in "
emergency session" to discuss the ongoing crisis at the corporation.
Meanwhile, in the midst of all the drama revolving around the 45-minute claim, Secretary of Defense Geoff Hoon and Blair's official spokesman both played down its importance. The
BBC reports that Mr. Hoon "admitted he knew - at an undisclosed time between the dossier's publication and the start of war - precisely what sort of missiles the 45 minutes referred to but also said it had
never been a big deal."
The spokesman said that the 45-minute claim was never a big part of the government's case but had "taken on an almost holy grail status" since, according to the
BBC.
Also...
•
Tenet defends CIA on Iraq intelligence (
CNN)
•
German court acquits 9/11 suspect (
BBC)
•
A Rude Awakening (
The New York Times)
•
Pakistan's nuclear crimes (
The Washington Post)
•
Afghan leaders removes chief of intelligence (
The New York Times)
•
Pakistan's proliferator-in-chief (
The Economist)
• Feedback appreciated. E-mail
Matthew Clark.
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