Blair's Vindication Provokes Media Backlash

[joefree1]

Blair's Vindication Provokes Media Backlash
By Jefferson Morley
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Thursday, January 29, 2004; 10:11 AM

On the brink of political death, British prime minister Tony Blair won a smashing victory yesterday, according to the British online media. But it provoked both admiration for his resiliency and a media backlash against the independent judge who exonerated Blair's handling of an erroneous British Broadcasting Corporation report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

Edit ...
The Independent (subscription required) called Hutton's 740 page report "curiously unbalanced." The liberal London daily also published a column by Charles Kennedy , leader of the opposition Liberal Democratic party, declaring Hutton's report "should be the opening curtain and not the last word."

Even the editors of the conservative Daily Telegraph , who supported Blair and the war in Iraq, declared: "there are very serious issues that Lord Hutton decided not to explore."
More ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59755-2004Jan29.html?nav=hptop_ts
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The American media has declared that Blair is completely exonerated. Glad to hear that this is not over yet.

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. "curiously unbalanced."

I love the british knack for understatement.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

6. They missed the best thing about the Indy

Their front page.

It's a broadsheet -- there was the paper header along the top, and then about 6 inches of text along the bottom -- but the rest of of it was totally blank with:

"Whitewash?
The Hutton Report
Special Inquiry"

in the middle.

Damn good front page.

[stumblnrose]

8. The Independent rules!

For all of you who think the Guardian is a balanced paper, well take a look at their whitewash of the whitewash of the whole Kelly scenario.

[Democat]

2. It's like when Ashcroft investigates Bush

He never seems to find anything wrong!

[Capt_Nemo]

3. Whitewash = Vindication?

How about producing the WMD arsenal described in the September dossier?

The Washington Post is an example of what Blair and Murdoch are
plotting to do to UK's free media.

[joefree1]

5. The average Brit agrees with you

Poll shows Britons' skepticism over Hutton report

www.chinaview.cn 2004-01-29 23:15:11
LONDON, Jan. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Half of those questioned in a British survey remain unconvinced that the Hutton report cleared the government of any wrongful behavior.
The poll for Thursday's London Evening Standard said half the 521 people questioned were not convinced by Lord Hutton's verdict that the government had not acted in a "dishonorable or duplicitous" manner, compared to 36 percent who supported the findings.
According to the survey, as many as 49 percent believed the Hutton report was "a whitewash".
More ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-01/29/content_1291078.htm

[Briar]

4. Huh?

"the independent judge who exonerated Blair's handling of an erroneous British Broadcasting Corporation report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction."

The BBC report was not erroneous. It's main points were that the dossier had been "sexed up" (it had) and that the intelligence community were uneasy about this (they were). Bliar's tendency to act as if Hutton has confirmed the content of the dossier seems to have rubbed off on the foreign media, worse luck.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

7. New Labour Inc

were bleating that to anyone who would listen, claiming that because Hutton ruled that the first broadcast of Gilligan's story at 6:07 erroneously claimed No.10 knew 45-minutes was false, the entire dossier & justification for war was 100% accurate & free from inteference from Downing Street - subconscious or otherwise.

(btw - where the hell did this Sion Simon (Labour MP) come from? Has he been appointed the junior minister for privatising the BBC or something?)

[T_i_B]

10. Sion Simon

That guy used to be a colummist on the Torygraph. He fitted in well there and he evidently fits in well with "new" labour too.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

11. tks. that explains it (nt)

[annagull]

9. Would have been better for Blair if the judge had taken a swipe

at him. The fact that he found absolutely nothing questionable or untrue with Blair's claims seems outrageous since David Kay came forward.

[maggrwaggr]

12. the new chairman of the BBC is named Richard Ryder

think about it ......

[tom_paine]

13. Nice to see the Post doing it's Pravda Thing

"Comrade Stalin has declared that Patrice Lumbumba has been completely vindicated!"

There, I feel sooooooo much better.