[Guardian] Campbell and 'Sexed Up' Documents

[munnki]

It seems that Alistair Campbell may have to answer some embarrassing questions (again). Where might this (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/12/alastair-campbell-iraq-war-inquiry) go?


Campbell, Tony Blair's combative former director of communications, will be grilled over his role in compiling the government's dossier on Saddam Hussein's supposed weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

Next week Geoff Hoon, defence secretary at the time of the war, and Jack Straw, the then foreign secretary, will give evidence. Blair himself will also appear within the next few weeks.

Although Campbell was cleared of claims that he was involved in "sexing up" the document by the earlier Hutton Inquiry, the verdict was not accepted by many critics who regarded it as a whitewash....

The allegations drew him into a bitter row with the BBC – which reported the initial claims – which resulted in the suicide of the government weapons scientist Dr David Kelly after it emerged that he was the source of the BBC story.

In the wake of the controversy, Campbell announced that he was quitting No 10, after nine years at Blair's side, citing the pressure on his family. In his evidence last month to the inquiry, Scarlett appeared to distance himself from Blair's foreword to the dossier in which he declared that intelligence had established "beyond doubt" that Iraq had WMD.

The questions to Campbell during his three-hour evidence session will however go beyond the dossier, published in September 2002, six months before the invasion.

Throughout the period, Campbell was one of Blair's closest aides – accompanying him on visits to the US to meet the then president, George Bush – and advising him on all aspects of the public presentation of policy on Iraq.



Down the rabbit hole we go!

[DMB]

I've been watching some of this on the BBC news channel as it happened. He was being pressed by Prof. Sir Lawrence Freedman. Campbell seemed to me to be saying that the intelligence part of the report was untouched by Downing St and that the foreword was the Downing Street contribution (he could hardly deny that) but was somewhat vague on how much was written by Blair and how much by him. Freedman pressed on the expression "beyond doubt". Campbell appeared to be suggesting that omission of these crucial words wouldn't have changed the meaning.

Campbell also testified that Brown, Straw, Hoon and Faulkner were deeply involved.

[DMB]

Fascinating to watch the afternoon hearing. Body language the giveaway. Freedman was obviously putting Campbell on the spot and making him tense and uneasy. At the moment, Sir Martin Gilbert is lobbing him easy balls: questions about the PR aspects. Campbell has visibly relaxed and become expansive.

[DMB]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/13/iraq-inquiry-alastair-campbell-effect

Mr Blair, as depicted by Mr Campbell, emerged yet again as a highly contradictory – or perhaps maddeningly dishonest – figure, simultaneously making a "genuine, genuine" effort to resolve the Iraq crisis peacefully as war loomed while writing private notes to George Bush promising that Britain "will be there" and was "absolutely with you". But Mr Campbell, so often like his boss, sees only the sterling efforts and the fine intentions while turning away from the catastrophic and destructive consequences. Mr Campbell may speak from the heart when describing his pride and sense of privilege to have played a part in events, but he does not face up to the dire and lasting consequences of those events for the Labour party, for Britain's standing and for too many Iraqis.

Footnote from the guy whose PhD material was plagiarised:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6985458.ece

What actually happened was this: the British Government took my material, then added pages that argued for military action against Iraq and changed key words to suggest that Iraq had supported al-Qaeda. This formed part of what became known as the “Dodgy Dossier”, published in February 2003.

It followed a report released in September 2002, detailing Iraq’s WMD programme and including the 45-minute figure four times. The BBC’s assertion that Mr Campbell had inserted the 45-minute figure to “sex up” the document led to it being known as the “Sexed-up Dossier”.