Victory
08-07-03, 19:51
BBC pressed to apologise for report
6:12:37 PM
London, July 7 - Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Monday stepped up pressure on the BBC to apologise over its claim that the government exaggerated Saddam Hussein's arms threat following the publication of a parliamentary report on the case for the Iraq wa r.
"I believe the BBC should now apologise," Straw said.
"The BBC should, I believe, now have the grace therefore to acknowledge that they got it wrong," he told journalists, referring specifically to doubts that Iraq could launch banned weapons in 45 minutes.
The foreign affairs select committee, in a divided report, concluded that "in all probability" the government's dossier of Iraq's arms threat published last September was founded on the basis of the intelligence then available."
In the absence of reliable evidence that intelligence personnel have either complained about or sought to distance themselves from the content of the dossier, allegations of politically inspired meddling, cannot have credibility," the all-party group o f MPS said.
But on the justification of the war, it also emphasised the "jury was still out on the accuracy" of the government's dossier on Iraq's alleged arms that have yet to be uncovered.
Focusing solely on the dispute with the BBC, Straw said the row had "not been an attack on their independence nor of their coverage of the war.
6:12:37 PM
London, July 7 - Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Monday stepped up pressure on the BBC to apologise over its claim that the government exaggerated Saddam Hussein's arms threat following the publication of a parliamentary report on the case for the Iraq wa r.
"I believe the BBC should now apologise," Straw said.
"The BBC should, I believe, now have the grace therefore to acknowledge that they got it wrong," he told journalists, referring specifically to doubts that Iraq could launch banned weapons in 45 minutes.
The foreign affairs select committee, in a divided report, concluded that "in all probability" the government's dossier of Iraq's arms threat published last September was founded on the basis of the intelligence then available."
In the absence of reliable evidence that intelligence personnel have either complained about or sought to distance themselves from the content of the dossier, allegations of politically inspired meddling, cannot have credibility," the all-party group o f MPS said.
But on the justification of the war, it also emphasised the "jury was still out on the accuracy" of the government's dossier on Iraq's alleged arms that have yet to be uncovered.
Focusing solely on the dispute with the BBC, Straw said the row had "not been an attack on their independence nor of their coverage of the war.