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Dyke suggests how Blair might say 'Sorry'.
A partial transcript of Greg Dyke's speech at the James Cameron Memorial Lecture at City University, London on 18 October 2004, in which he suggested how Tony Blair might apologise about his statements on the US-UK invasion of Iraq."In the last couple of weeks we have suddenly found ourselves in the season of apology. The government has decided it is time to start eating just a little bit of humble pie over Iraq. It started at the Labour Party conference with the begrudging apology from Tony Blair followed by Patricia Hewitt, Jack Straw and lastly the Prime Minister again.
"But so far, all they have said is, 'we are sorry the information we gave you was wrong'. That simply won't wash. No one in government has yet taken responsibility for it being wrong.
"If we just take the evidence we now know to be true we can put together the apology Tony Blair should make if he seriously wants to set the record straight and put the matter behind him. If he does that - and only I think if he does that - can he move on, can we all move on and certainly can I move on.
"In all I think he needs to make apologies on at least 10 specific issues. Incidentally, none of these require him to say he lied and none requires him saying he regrets getting rid of Saddam Hussein.
"They go something like this:
"I am sorry that I said on several occasions in 2002 that Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction policy was active and growing. I now accept that the British intelligence services had found no new evidence to support that position when I made those statements.
"I am sorry that on making those announcements I put pressure on the intelligence services to find more information from sources in Iraq to support my position. I now know this led to them using unreliable sources whose evidence was later shown to be wrong and withdrawn. Incidentally, I am also sorry that no one in government explained to Lord Hutton that this evidence had already been withdrawn when he was conducting his inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of David Kelly thus leaving him in ignorance of the real fact.
"I am sorry that when the head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, told Alastair Campbell and I, personally, that a new source had come forward who supported the view that Saddam's WMD programme was up and running again. I'm sorry that I ignored the fact that he also told us this source was unproven. Instead I used this new evidence to tell the British people that I knew more about the weapons of mass destruction than I could tell them. I now know I didn't.
"I am sorry that I didn't understand what the claim that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that could be fired within 45 minutes actually meant and I am sorry that I didn't question the claim -as a prime minister I should have done. If I had questioned it I would have discovered that British interests were not threatened by these weapons and that the justification I made to the House of Commons and the people of Britain for going to war in Iraq was therefore wrong.
"I am sorry that I wasn't listening to Robin Cook when he told me in a private conversation that having talked to the head of the Joint Intelligence Committee it was clear to him that Saddam didn't have weapons of mass destruction which could threaten Britain's interests and in fact the short range weapons he possessed were only a threat to Britain if we attacked Iraq.
"I am sorry that the caveats which qualified the intelligence which we planned to use in our first dossier on Iraq were mysteriously not included in the document itself. I accept that some of these were omitted at the suggestion of my staff.
"I am sorry that in the House of Commons I described the second dossier we published on Iraq as an intelligence report when it was no such thing. It was bogus information which Alastair Campbell and his department had found on the internet and changed to suggest Saddam supported terrorist groups - oh, incidentally, I am also sorry that I didn't fire Alastair Campbell for incompetence when I found this out but I should have done.
"I am sorry I allowed John Scarlett to be appointed the new head of MI6 when it was already clear when he was head of the Joint Intelligence Committee he allowed many of these errors to happen in his efforts to please me.
"Finally, I am sorry that I described Andrew Gilligan's story as a mountain of untruth in the House of Commons I now recognise that wasn't the case. I'm also sorry that I told Lord Hutton that if Andrew Gilligan's story had been true I would have had to resign - because I haven't."
Last modified: Friday, October 22, 2004
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Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
War Reporting
Mediawar: Covering conflicts after Iraq
Media Culpa? - the media and Iraq
Make peace not war at the Labour Party Conference
Guardian report "Iraqi police abduct journalists"
CPBF CONDEMNS ISRAELI TREATMENT OF JOURNALIST
IRNA managing director urges speedy release of abducted staff
CPBF condemns closure of Al-Jazeera
Light Reading for Dark Nights
Butler’s Report: A very British Inquiry
Hoon Pledges Protection for Journalists
Hutton whitewash leaves Blair in dock
The Myth of Gulf War 2
11 September - Two Years On
JUSTICE FOR JAMES MILLER
GRASSROOTS ANTI-WAR CONFERENCE
MEMORIAL PLACARDS
REVIEW: Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush’s War on Iraq, by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, Robinson £6.99
IRAQ and the MEDIA WAR: Access to Television
IRAQ and the MEDIA WAR: The Palestine Hotel attack: - part of a wider pattern?
IRAQ and the MEDIA WAR: Blurring The Facts
IRAQ and the MEDIA WAR: The BBC's War
IRAQ and the MEDIA WAR: Embedding propaganda
IRAQ and the MEDIA WAR: "Get the Iraqi ‘Most Wanted’ Deck of Playing Cards – Only $5.95 a set!"
IRAQ and the MEDIA WAR: The Big Lie
IRAQ and the MEDIA WAR: RESOURCES FOR ANSWERING BACK
MEDIA BEATS THE WAR DRUMS
Dropping Songs on the White House
US attack on journalists 'deliberate and unprovoked' - witness reports from Media-watch.
US Media Unions Demand Explanation for Deaths in Iraq
JOURNALISTS PAY THE PRICE OF WAR
