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YOUR VIEW

What do you think of the Downing Street Director of Communications?

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  • INTERNET LINKS

    Downing Street Dossier - September 2002
    Number 10's document on the threat from Iraq which includes the controversial claim that it could fire weaopons of mass destruction within 45 minutes.

    Downing Street Dossier - January 2003
    Number 10's document entitled "Iraq - its infrastructure of concealment, deception and intimidation" which Alastair Campbell has admitted was taken from the Internet report, linked to below.

    Middle East Review Of International Affairs (MERIA)
    Ibrahim al-Marashi's thesis entitled: "Iraq's Security & Intelligence Network: A Guide & Analysis"

    Campbell Statement
    On the BBC's report, dated 27 June 2003.
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    Advertisement

    Campbell off the hook?
    Iraq Dossier



    Published: 29-June-2003
    By: Simon Israel



    The farce of the BBC's squabble with the Prime Minister's spokesman Alastair Campbell may be over.


    It looks as if the influential committee of MP's investigating what happened is likely to back his version of events - that he did not "sex up" the Iraq intelligence dossier.



    Eric Illsley, a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee has told us that he believes Mr Campbell wasn't involved and the BBC should apologise.



    But in a potentially more worrying move for the government he said he thought the intelligence on which the decision to go to war was made, was wrong.



    It's not so much what the Foreign Secretary told the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in public, but what he showed them in private last Friday.



    Selected intelligence documents have convinced some members that the Government in general and Alastair Campbell in particular are off the hook as far as deliberately misleading the public over Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.



    But that still leaves open the question of whether Mr Campbell and company took everyone off to war on the basis of flawed intelligence.



    Today the Prime Minister's communications chief fired off another letter to the BBC in their increasingly bitter feud over the allegation of the sexed up dossier; just as another three Cabinet ministers joined the fray armed with same hymn sheet.



    Tonight the BBC's riposte added little to the font of all knowledge about the true origins of the dossier's contents.



    It could be that both sides may be waiting to see who will benefit most, if at all, from the findings of the Foreign Affairs Committee.



    But it should be noted that it's been denied the opportunity to question the heads of the intelligence services themselves.



    And these weapons of mass destruction, which featured to prominently in the run up to war, are no longer it seems a priority for troops now occupying Iraq.






    YOUR EMAILS



    We have had hundreds of emails from you about our impromptu interview with Alastair Campbell - here's a flavour of what they said:



    "I don't think I've ever felt so drained after watching a television interview! Campbell may have thought he was going to clear things up from his point of view but it only served to confirm what so many of us feel which is that he is the power behind the PM and a bully to boot - he's done himself no favours."

    Jennifer Rodger



    "The extraordinary rage shown here by AC, and the weak performance by Straw before the Committee, imply something v. important is attempting to be muddied."

    Harriet Jondorf.



    "Maybe the BBC had only one source - but if the source was trustworthy, well-placed to comment, and known to the BBC, it seems perfectly legitimate reporting. It would have been wrong not to report it for fear of upsetting the government."

    Elchyn Merrow



    "Campbell accuses the BBC of doing exactly what the Government has done countless number of times throughout the entire Iraq debacle. Namely, the use of evidence from unnamed sources. Hypocrites deserve to be hoist by their own petard."

    Jim Curry



    "I believe that Mr Campbell is one of the minds behind Labour's “tricks with words” approach. He shouldn’t be surprised, angry and resentful when people investigate how the tricks are done."

    Carole Nash



    "By making himself the story, and deflecting attention from the real issue of whether we went to war under false pretences, to one about the BBC, I can only say one thing: it is going to be impossible from now on to trust anything said by any government spokesman. I doubt that was what he intended when he came into your studios, but that is what he has achieved!"

    Dina Turner



    "What a masterful performance by Alastair Campbell. About time a superficial and derogating Press/Media was taken to task! I am absolutely confident, having seen this no-nonsense appearance, that this Country is safest in the capable hands of Prime Minister Blair ably supported by advisers of the calibre of Campbell."

    K. Lawrence, West Country



    "As a former detective who has interrogated literally hundreds of suspects over the past 25 years I would say that Alistair Campbell "doth protest too much" and there is no doubt that I would charge him with deception even without an admission."

    David Moore



    "He robustly and thoroughly answered the half-baked allegations or charges. Overall he was straightforward and honestly wronged. He was quite different from his popular press image. We as independent voters were very impressed. The outcome was to make us far more sympathetic to the government than before the interview."

    B & Jo Kilcoyne



    "For his information, I am not 'bored rigid', I am scared to death - and not of terrorists. The American media is in a stranglehold and I'm sure much of the same is planned for ours. Thank goodness for Channel 4!"

    Jill - Dover



    "Campbell, with the whole government apparatus behind him, could not organise an ordinary dossier. Apologising is not enough."

    Frank



    "Mr Campbell cannot and must not be allowed to escape the consequences of his clear guilt over the second dossier by protesting his innocence over allegations relating to the first one."

    Hugh Hanlon



    "It appears to me that this individual, who is employed by 10 Downing Street to manipulate on its behalf, seems to be squealing like a stuck pig because he is being obliged to accept his responsibilities for these Machiavellian duties for the very first time."

    Hugh McLean



    "Number 10, and the PM's unelected advisors have become manifestly contemptuous of informed dissent and appear to have no shame when inconstancies are exposed. The public is not stupid. Number 10 should appreciate that people seek to verify its utterances."

    Frederick J Watson, Scottish Borders



    "I missed the original Television Broadcast of the interview and have just watched and listened to it via your Web Page. This man is not an elected official so what authority does he have to spout off like this about a political issue? I supported the decision to go to war but had I heard Mr Campbell first I would have been in two minds. If he believes the BBC have done him wrong then he should sue.

    Peter Holme



    "As an expat living in New York I am used to nothing but sycophantic Whitehouse Stenography from the domestic media and so I jumped for joy at the way Jon Snow ripped the heart out of Campbell. Not letting him off the hook for a moment the interview was exemplary. It's exactly the sort of journalism that makes the British media the best in the world."

    Simon Collins, New York



    "After listening to interviews on C4 news and Radio 4's Today programme, I sincerely believe that Alastair Campbell is merely obfuscating and 'playing for time' in a professional and orchestrated attempt to draw attention away from the current investigation into the government's handling of the intelligence used as a justification for the Iraq war."

    Nick Fraser, Berlin



    "How can the Government say that one dossier is a "horlicks" and the other produced by the same people in the same Government is absolutely reliable?"

    Tim Mallorie



    "I find it extraordinary that an unelected government aide is put forward to defend the government's position. If the so-called attack on the government by the BBC is so serious shouldn't we be hearing from the Prime Minister? Andrew Gilligan has been defended by his boss, Richard Sambrook isn't it about time that Mr Campbell asks his boss to do the same for him?"

    Richard Bannister



    "Blair and Campbell, either the intelligence you were relying on was rubbish; or between the lot of you, you are incompetent to interpret it and govern us safely. Time has been your judge and you have failed us and with such outrageous arrogance you now seek to quell those who challenge you. The BBC have not made the world a more dangerous place, Blair and Bush have, and they should be answerable to all of us. Well done Jon Snow and CH4 news for standing up to Campbell’s arrogance as well."

    David Baker, London



    "Most of us thought going to war like George Bush was bad enough but now we have the government roughing up the domestic media like Silvio Berlusconi."

    David Cobham



    "Are Comical Ali of Baghdad and Hysterical Ali of Burnley perhaps related ? I think we should be told."

    JDL Wiggins



    "Campbell's interview technique is straight out of the same textbook as Peter Mandelson's; bully, browbeat and intimidate. Although he hasn't quite mastered the 'Paddington bear hard stare' that Mandelson uses when he's trying to butch up his act. (I had the misfortune to be on the receiving end of Mandy's wrath when I was a poor NCTJ student - it's enough to put you off journalism for life."

    Alexander Tomlinson



    "AC is clearly a boorish bully, used to bludgeoning his way through an argument. He did not convince me that he had not interfered in the preparation of the Iraq dossier and he showed himself to be unfit to hold a senior government position. If he has not resigned he should be sacked."

    Simon Tompsett





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