It’s impossible to imagine that I could say anything on this subject which has not already been said, and I should admit that I am not in possession of all the facts (who is?), but I felt the need to publicly register a couple of thoughts.
The first is this. In a dispute of this kind between two parties, in this case the BBC and the government, it is my experience that one party is never wholly right, and the other wholly wrong. There is always some degree of balance required when attempting to extract the truth.
It is for this reason alone that I find it wholly remarkable that the heretofore unchallenged fairness of Lord Hutton found that the entirety of the wrongdoing was the responsibility of the BBC and, perhaps, to a small degree the Ministry of Defence.
It is my belief that the Government might have to forgive the British public for smelling a rat, even if there isn’t one. This is only one part of a story that also sees us feeling manipulated into war with Iraq by what appears to be a bogus claim about them possessing active stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.
It seems to me that the Labour party, who have been so good at spinning stories in the past are now unable to appear convincing when they smile and say “Trust Us”. Even with the kind words of the Noble Lord and with countless technical victories, I remain unsettled and saddened by a Government who took us into war as the aggressor, based on flawed intelligence.
I am not a pacifist, not by a long way. We must defend our country when it is under threat, of course we must - but if this aggressive and bullying stance represents Britain in the 21st Century, then I am not sure how proud I am to be British.
British justice is the best in the world - and anyone who thinks otherwise is either a gay, a mental or a woman. Lord Hutton may be wrong, but at least he's fair. And if he isn't fair, at least he's honest about his mistakes. And if he isn't at least he's not foreign.
Posted by: Brendra Ffalmstout | February 06, 2004 at 08:26 PM