Here's a sample of what papers had to say about the 45 minute claim- front page, of course:
SMH (Australia):
Saddam ready and able to strike
British PM claims Iraq could launch weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes.
Evening Standard (UK):
45 Minutes from attack.
Dossier reveals Saddam is ready to launch chemical war strikes.
The Sun:
Brits 45 mins from Doom.
Cyprus within missile range
British servicemen and tourists in Cyprus could be annihilated by germ warfare missiles launched by Iraq, it was revealed yesterday. They could thud into the Mediterranean island within 45 minutes of tyrant Saddam Hussein ordering an attack.
Have a read of the whole piece, you won't be disappointed.
So why didn't Hoon correct those reports? Wasn't the Minister horrified to see the dossier misinterpreted in this way, asked counsel for the BBC.
Geoffrey Hoon (GH): Well, I was not horrified. I recognised that journalists occasionally write things that are more dramatic than the material upon which it is based.
BBC: Can we forget journalists for the moment and concentrate on the members of the public who are reading it? Will they not be entitled to be given the true picture of the intelligence, not a vastly inflated one?
GH: I think that is a question you would have to put to the journalists and the editors responsible.
BBC: But you had the means to correct it, not them. They could not correct it until they were told, could they?
GH: Well, as I say, my experience of trying to persuade newspapers to correct false impressions is one that is not full of success.
- Hutton Inquiry, transcript, September 2003
Translation; we knew back then that it was bullshit, but didn't feel obliged to correct the media, as it was helpfull bullshit.
Η ζωή, η ζωή εδω τελειώνει!
"Science is one cold-hearted bitch with a 14" strap-on" - Masuka 'Dexter'
"Angela is not the woman you think she is Gabriel, she's done terrible things"
"So have I, and I'm going to do them all to you." - Sylar to Arthur 'Heroes'
I think it's wrong to blame the fraudulent information in the dossier on the "British Government" because the Defense and Intelligence arms were seriously pissed with it. Clearly the Iraq war was born from a conspiracy. I have zero respect for any asshole who won't acknowledge this.
BoredShirtless wrote:I think it's wrong to blame the fraudulent information in the dossier on the "British Government" because the Defense and Intelligence arms were seriously pissed with it.
They don't make policy, so I don't consider them part of the government- when I say "British Government", I mean Blair and his crowd, with his smarmy accent and self-assured bullshit ... (starts brooding)
The Sun, 25th September wrote:Brits 45 mins from Doom.
Cyprus within missile range
British servicemen and tourists in Cyprus could be annihilated by germ warfare missiles launched by Iraq, it was revealed yesterday. They could thud into the Mediterranean island within 45 minutes of tyrant Saddam Hussein ordering an attack.
- The Sun, 25 September 2002
Bwahahaha!
Oh jesus, I can't believe they get away with this shit... especially...
Gilligan's errors provoked carnage at the BBC. The reporter was sacked, the chairman left and the director general Greg Dyke was forced to resign by Tony Blair who maintained:
"All we ever wanted was an incorrect story corrected."
- Prime Minister Tony Blair press conference, AM, ABC Radio, 31 July 2003
