Posted on 09/17/2003 10:47:35 PM PDT by Timesink
Andrew Gilligan, the BBC reporter, admitted a series of errors yesterday in his report claiming that the Government "sexed up" its dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
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Under cross-examination by three QCs at the Hutton Inquiry, Gilligan apologised for his e-mail to members of the Commons foreign affairs committee, which was seen by some as an attempt to influence MPs in his favour.
"I was quite wrong to send it . . . I was under an enormous amount of pressure and simply wasn't thinking straight," he said.
But the Government also opened itself to severe criticism from the family of David Kelly when, in a major shift, a senior Ministry of Defence official said the scientist would have had no right to veto his name being released to the press.
Dr Kelly apparently committed suicide after he was publicly named as the source for Gilligan's report on the Today programme on May 29. It alleged that Downing Street had exaggerated intelligence in the September dossier to enhance the case for war against Iraq.
The Government has previously said Dr Kelly knew it was inevitable his name would come out and had co-operated with the process.
But Richard Hatfield, the director of personnel at the ministry, said yesterday he had not needed Dr Kelly's consent to make his name public. Contrary to the impression he gave during his earlier evidence, he said he had not "specifically discussed" with the scientist the MoD's plans for naming him.
He said: "I did not and I do not believe that I required his consent." He added: "There was no way the MoD could not reveal the name and certainly no reason to give him a veto."
Dr Kelly's widow, Janice, has told the inquiry that her husband had felt "betrayed" at the way the MoD released his name contrary to assurances he had been given. But Mr Hatfield, asked about the support offered to Dr Kelly by the MoD, said: "I thought it was outstanding."
Gilligan was challenged yesterday by barristers for the Government, the Kelly family and the inquiry, which was set up to investigate Dr Kelly's death. Although he accepted making errors, he stood by the main thrust of the story that the dossier was "sexed up" by No 10. The report unleashed a huge row between Downing Street and the BBC.
Gilligan said it was now known, from evidence to the inquiry, that there had been dissent in the intelligence community over the claim that Iraq's WMD were deployable within 45 minutes.
But he accepted that, in his 6.07am report on May 29, he had mistakenly accused the Government of including the claim in the dossier when it probably knew it to be wrong. He also admitted to not reporting Dr Kelly's words "carefully and accurately".
Richard Sambrook, the director of news at the BBC, appeared to distance himself from the reporter yesterday when he suggested to the inquiry that there were questions of nuance and subtlety over how Gilligan presented his work.
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17 September 2003: MoD was 'playing Russian roulette on Kelly' |
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2 September 2003: 'He felt let down and betrayed' |
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19 July 2003: Mystery of the eight missing hours before the body was found |
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 Schadenfreude  |
Mr Gilligan has admitted making several errors and "slips of the tongue" in his radio reports on the Government's Iraq weapons dossier which started the row between the BBC and Downing Street.
The corporation's director of news Richard Sambrook told the inquiry that Mr Gilligan "painted in primary colours" and there were question marks over "nuance and subtlety".
In his live report on Radio 4's Today programme at 6.07am on May 29 Mr Gilligan quoted an anonymous source as saying the claim that Saddam Hussein could use weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes was inserted into the September dossier late at the Government's request.
The claim that the dossier was "sexed up" against the wishes of the intelligence community eventually led to Dr David Kelly being named as the source.
Mr Gilligan reported the Government had included the 45-minute claim knowing it was probably "wrong". But he acknowledged the words he used in this first live broadcast had been "a kind of slip of the tongue".
Mr Sambrook was asked his opinion of Mr Gilligan as a reporter. He replied: "Andrew Gilligan was in some respects a great reporter."
Mr Sambrook said he divided journalists into two groups - those good at gathering information and those proficient at presenting that information.
He said Mr Gilligan was "extremely good at finding out something" but he was a "reporter who painted in primary colours rather than something more subtle". Mr Sambrook conceded Mr Gilligan had strayed from the story during the unscripted broadcast at 6.07am.
Lord Hutton has already seen an e-mail from Today programme editor Kevin Marsh, in which he said the report was "a good piece of investigative journalism, marred by flawed reporting". He described the reporter's "loose" use of language as "our biggest millstone" and suggested that future Gilligan stories should be discussed with him in person, with "an explicit credibility test" for anonymous sources.
IOW, a liar.
Also, a man who, by his own admission, can't handle the pressures of his job without screwing up. He sounds perfect for the BBC.
Oh. So he was under a lot of pressure. You mean, like the people you're used to bullying, Mr. Gilligan? You can dish it out, but you can't take it!
Was? Does that mean he's about to be sacked?
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