BBC at war with itself
In another twist to the Dr Kelly scandal, the BBC1’s Panorama programme strongly rebuked BBC bosses last night by running “lost” footage of an interview with Iraqi weapons expert Dr David Kelly.
Dr Kelly was found dead with his wrist slit near his home after being “outed” as the Ministry of Defence “mole” who leaked details to the BBC on No 10’s “sexed up” weapons dossier.
Panorama last night aired footage for the first time of Dr Kelly expressing his opinion on Iraq’s capacity to launch lethal weapons. It was recorded in October 2002, months before his suicide.
Panorama slammed BBC executives for defending reporter Andrew Gilligan – without checking his notes – after he broadcast a report on the Today programme saying the 45-minute claim had been “sexed up” by someone in Downing Street
The programme said BBC bosses had “bet the farm on a shaky foundation.”
It said although Mr Gilligan was “on to something” in his report, it was “wrong” to claim No 10 had ordered politically-motivated amendments to be put into the dossier.
But the timing and the content of the interview re-raises important questions on Downing Street’s claim that Saddam Hussein could deploy weapons of mass destruction “within 45 minutes.”
Panorama reported last night that a month after the “45-minute” allegation was made by Mr Gillian, Dr Kelly said Saddam Hussein posed an “immediate threat” to security interests.
Dr Kelly said: “Yes there is. Even if they’re not actually filled and deployed today, the capability exists to get them filled and deployed within a matter of days and weeks. So yes, there is a threat.”
Dr Kelly said Saddam Hussein’s biological weapons programme posed a “real threat” to countries neighbouring Iraq.
Tory foreign affairs spokesman, Michael Ancram, said it was “a great shame” the interview was not presented publicly as evidence to the Hutton inquiry.
“His comments do place his views at odds with those presented in the government’s September dossier.
“This interview reinforces the case for the full independent judicial inquiry into the run-up to the Iraq war which we have been calling for.”
Lord Hutton’s report into the events surrounding the death of the weapons expert is published next week.
The special edition of Panorama was screened on BBC1 at 2030GMT last night.
