The tangled web

OH WHAT a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive. George Bush and Tony Blair now have cause to appreciate the truth of this maxim after they deceived the world about their reasons for invading Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Apart from the chaos they have created in that unfortunate Middle Eastern country, where so-called “coalition forces” are now reaping a bloody backlash, both Bush and Blair are engaged in a rear-guard action at home to defend growing criticism about their pretext for launching their illegal invasion. In fact, the inbroglio over the fraudulent intelligence upon which they based their case for attacking Saddam Hussein's country has now led to the death of one top British official, Ministry of Defence weapons adviser Dr David Kelly, who committed suicide near his home in Oxfordshire last Friday. A quiet, mild-mannered microbiologist, Dr Kelly apparently could not take the publicity and the official pressure when he became identified as the source behind two BBC reports that Downing Street had inflated or “sexed up” evidence about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in order to justify the invasion. BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan, in his May 29 radio report, also quoted his anonymous “source” as saying that the government had insisted on publishing a claim that Saddam Hussein could deploy chemical and biological weapons within 45 minutes, despite the doubts of intelligence experts.

The controversy triggered by David Kelly's suicide has provoked attacks from all sides, including accusations that the two BBC reporters, Gilligan and Susan Watts, who appeared on the analysis programme Newsnight, had inaccurately reported the comments the scientist had made to them in separate confidential contacts. The BBC, however, has remained steadfast in defending the accuracy of their reports. In reply to these charges, Gilligan stated: “I want to make it clear that I did not misquote or misrepresent Dr David Kelly. Entirely separately from my meeting with him, Dr Kelly expressed very similar concerns about Downing Street's interpretation of intelligence in the dossier and the unreliability of the 45-minute point to Newsnight.” We are inclined to believe that the two BBC reporters told the truth; indeed, as Tory legislator Michael Fabricant pointed out, there is no evidence to suggest that they misrepresented Dr Kelly's comments. However, with respect to this bitter dispute between the broadcaster and the government, the world will have to wait on the findings of a judicial inquiry into the events leading to Dr Kelly's suicide.

As far as we are concerned, however, the fact is already undeniably established that both Bush and Blair acted on entirely false intelligence information in launching their destructive invasion of Iraq. What Dr Kelly is reported to have told the BBC reporters can only provide supporting evidence of their deceit and recklessness in the act of terrorism they have inflicted on the Iraqi people. The buck, with respect to this illegal invasion and the continuing misery of the Iraqis, stops with them; they are both responsible for and guilty of a horrendous act of aggression which has slaughtered thousands of innocent women and children and, ironically enough, now includes the lives of their own soldiers who have become the sitting duck targets of a retaliatory guerrilla war waged by Iraqi loyalists. In the face of this monumental miscalculation, it is morally imperative that both Bush and Blair should at least step down. The US President is coming under increasing fire from the Democrats over his foolish Iraqi adventure and it would be interesting to watch the reaction of the American people as he seeks another term in the White House.