[A-List] UK state: Iraq crisis, BBC

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Previously I've referred to the BBC as the broadcasting arm of MI6. Giving
full, unexpurgated coverage of every Pentagon briefing since the twin towers
attack has been a masterpiece of subversion, allowing viewers worldwide to
gauge just how horrible are the neocons and hawks going all the way up to
Bush himself. Without any adulteration whatsoever they are exposed for the
space aliens that they are -- belonging to an entirely different solar
system, thoroughly unappealing to the vast majority of the world's
inhabitants, including British residents. And the irony of that is that they
applaud the BBC for its apparent servility.

However the not-so-hidden agenda governing BBC reportage became much more
exposed following the recent eruption of controversy over the government's
misuse and abuse of intelligence materials as justification for the invasion
of Iraq. In the pages of the Financial Times columnist Gerard Baker has been
complaining bitterly of BBC bias ("I love the way the BBC does balance:
'With me here is Professor X who claims that the Americans eat babies, while
in our Washington studio is Doctor Y who disagrees'"...) and now Campbell,
the great media maestro himself, is upping the ante. However, according to
the Sunday Telegraph, the media fun and games perpetrated by Campbell,
Mandelson et al have long been a source of profound irritation to the
"professionals":

"Three months after Mr Blair's election, on the day the news began to break
that Robin Cook was leaving his wife for his diary secretary, a minister
sought to distract press attention from the story by telling a newspaper
that MI6 wanted to investigate Chris Patten over the unauthorised
publication of secret documents relating to his time in Hong Kong.
Intelligence officers were stunned: never before had they seen their
briefings abused in this way. Looking back, we can see it was a portent."

See
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fopinion%2F2003%2F06%2F0
8%2Fdl0801.xml&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=151369

Ignoring the pretence of affront, especially from the Sunday Telegraph, well
known as a vehicle of intelligence for planted stories and the like, the
fact that this sort of thing is published at all is indicative of
peevishness at being upstaged in such a way.

When viewed in this light Mandelson's political mishaps seem rather
convenient given that they hinged upon the leakage of sensitive information
at crucial moments in the Blair governments' history, most especially his
second resignation as Northern Ireland Secretary. However he has been
steered towards the Europe role for which he was made, and in recent times
has been littering the broadsheets with impassioned appeals for UK eurozone
membership. Campbell loathes Mandelson, so now Mandelson becomes doubly
useful for those within MI6 who wish not only to push the Europe agenda, but
also to weaken and ultimately get rid of Campbell. And this also weakens
Blair and by extension Brown, whose successors are already lining themselves
up (posts passim).

-----

Campbell goes on the attack over Iraq

JASON BEATTIE CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
The Scotsman, 26 June 2003

ALASTAIR Campbell, the Prime Minister's press chief, yesterday accused the
BBC of pursuing a secret agenda against the government and demanded an
apology for its "biased" Iraq coverage.

In a dramatic intervention, the government's top spin doctor turned on his
accusers, saying claims - originally made by the BBC - that No10 had
exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein were "completely, totally
untrue".

Giving evidence to the foreign affairs select committee, Mr Campbell vented
his anger on the BBC for standing by the story despite repeated denials.

In particular Mr Campbell was furious that the accusation that he had "sexed
up" a dossier published in September 2002 had been allowed to gather
currency when there was no supporting evidence. It was claimed he had
inserted the claim that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction could be ready
within 45 minutes.

Mr Campbell denied No10 had twisted the opinions of the group representing
Britain's intelligence agencies. He said: "What is completely and totally
and 100 per cent untrue is that - and this is the BBC claim - that I in any
way over-rode that judgment, sought to exaggerate that intelligence, sought
to use it in any way that the intelligence agencies weren't 100 per cent
content with."

"It has been denied by the Prime Minister, it has been denied by the
chairman of the joint intelligence committee, it has been denied by the
Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator, it has been denied by the heads of
the intelligence agencies involved. And yet the BBC continue to stand by
that story."