Stephen Glover:
Some newspapers, various ex-generals and assorted other worthies have complained about the Government's decision to hold an inquiry into the Iraq war in private.
The Times, however, thinks there should not be an inquiry at all. In a first leader last week the paper grumbled that there had already been two of them, and it doubted that a third could tell us anything we don't already know.
I disagree. There are many aspects of this affair that remain unexamined. One of them is the attitude of some newspapers, in particular the Murdoch-owned Times and Sun, in uncritically promoting the Government's flawed case for war, and defending, or even omitting to report, its mistakes.
The new inquiry is unfortunately most unlikely to investigate the role of these powerful newspapers in legitimising the war. It is true that Tony Blair was supported by other titles, but one wonders whether Britain could have gone to war at all unless the US-based Rupert Murdoch had thrown his powerful divisions behind the Government.
For many months before the invasion in March 2003 both papers repeatedly told their readers that Saddam Hussein possessed potentially lethal weapons of mass destruction. Admittedly there was then a widespread view in Britain and other countries that Iraq had WMD, but there was room for reasonable doubt which neither The Sun nor The Times chose to reflect.
In the months leading up to war The Sun regularly reported every British or American claim about WMD without the slightest
reservation, and a succession of editorials declared that these weapons existed. On 10 September 2002 – a couple of weeks before the Government's infamous, mendacious dossier – the paper wrote that, "recognition of the necessity of an allied air strike is growing as more chilling details of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction are revealed". A week before the invasion The Sun stated that, "Saddam has stockpiled weapons of mass destruction, and he's not going to give them up".
The Times was scarcely less categorical about the existence of WMD, though it did run occasional columns, including ones by Simon Jenkins and Timothy Garden, expressing doubts. On 7 September 2002 the paper referred to, "Saddam's current drive to create even more terrible weapons of mass destruction". The 2002 dossier I have mentioned was greeted by a story describing it as "sober" beneath the headline "Blair dossier proves Baghdad's 'lies' ".
The BBC's Andrew Gilligan was almost entirely right about the "sexed up" 2002 dossier. During the row between the Government and the BBC in July 2003, both papers took the Government's side. After No 10 had revealed the identity of the weapons inspector Dr David Kelly, subsequently found dead near his home, they attacked the Corporation. The Times's Tom Baldwin, a friend of Alastair Campbell, shamelessly wrote that, "some BBC journalists seemed to have abandoned objectivity".
The Sun was even more aerated, suggesting that, "this is the time for root-and-branch reorganisation of the news department at the BBC." This from a newspaper which in February 2004 did not even report Tony Blair's amazing confession that when Britain went to war he did not know that so-called WMD ( had they existed) were considered by the western military to be battlefield weapons which could only be fired a relatively short distance.
The Times complains that every aspect of the Iraq war has already been discussed. No. Rupert Murdoch's role as chief cheerleader for the war has hardly even been considered.
The Times, however, thinks there should not be an inquiry at all. In a first leader last week the paper grumbled that there had already been two of them, and it doubted that a third could tell us anything we don't already know.
I disagree. There are many aspects of this affair that remain unexamined. One of them is the attitude of some newspapers, in particular the Murdoch-owned Times and Sun, in uncritically promoting the Government's flawed case for war, and defending, or even omitting to report, its mistakes.
The new inquiry is unfortunately most unlikely to investigate the role of these powerful newspapers in legitimising the war. It is true that Tony Blair was supported by other titles, but one wonders whether Britain could have gone to war at all unless the US-based Rupert Murdoch had thrown his powerful divisions behind the Government.
For many months before the invasion in March 2003 both papers repeatedly told their readers that Saddam Hussein possessed potentially lethal weapons of mass destruction. Admittedly there was then a widespread view in Britain and other countries that Iraq had WMD, but there was room for reasonable doubt which neither The Sun nor The Times chose to reflect.
In the months leading up to war The Sun regularly reported every British or American claim about WMD without the slightest
reservation, and a succession of editorials declared that these weapons existed. On 10 September 2002 – a couple of weeks before the Government's infamous, mendacious dossier – the paper wrote that, "recognition of the necessity of an allied air strike is growing as more chilling details of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction are revealed". A week before the invasion The Sun stated that, "Saddam has stockpiled weapons of mass destruction, and he's not going to give them up".
The Times was scarcely less categorical about the existence of WMD, though it did run occasional columns, including ones by Simon Jenkins and Timothy Garden, expressing doubts. On 7 September 2002 the paper referred to, "Saddam's current drive to create even more terrible weapons of mass destruction". The 2002 dossier I have mentioned was greeted by a story describing it as "sober" beneath the headline "Blair dossier proves Baghdad's 'lies' ".
The BBC's Andrew Gilligan was almost entirely right about the "sexed up" 2002 dossier. During the row between the Government and the BBC in July 2003, both papers took the Government's side. After No 10 had revealed the identity of the weapons inspector Dr David Kelly, subsequently found dead near his home, they attacked the Corporation. The Times's Tom Baldwin, a friend of Alastair Campbell, shamelessly wrote that, "some BBC journalists seemed to have abandoned objectivity".
The Sun was even more aerated, suggesting that, "this is the time for root-and-branch reorganisation of the news department at the BBC." This from a newspaper which in February 2004 did not even report Tony Blair's amazing confession that when Britain went to war he did not know that so-called WMD ( had they existed) were considered by the western military to be battlefield weapons which could only be fired a relatively short distance.
The Times complains that every aspect of the Iraq war has already been discussed. No. Rupert Murdoch's role as chief cheerleader for the war has hardly even been considered.
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