In a way, it was heartbreaking to watch the Mother of Parliaments deal with half of a particularly nasty problem in an impressive way. It was sad and depressing for an American because the United States seems so unable even to begin to address the first half of the same problem -- how and why were we so badly misled about the reasons for going to war with Iraq. Did our leaders lie to us, knowingly distort or exaggerate? Or was their own intelligence that bad, and if so, why? And why isn't something being done about it?
In Britain, the debate was over the accuracy of a British Broadcasting Co. -- the state-owned radio and television network -- report that the government had "sexed up" a prewar dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The BBC's claim was traced to a respected weapons inspector and expert Dr. David Kelly, who was outed by the government itself and who later committed suicide. With that, the uproar became so great -- and you haven't seen uproar until you've seen the British tabloid press in full cry -- that an independent commission was named to investigate the whole mess, and Blair's political life was on the line.
I don't think even the American press can hype a story the way the British press does, and by the time Lord Hutton, the almost comically pukkah head of the inquiry commission, delivered his report to a breathlessly waiting nation, the whole place had more or less come to a halt. To add to the tension, Blair's administration had just barely survived a tough battle in the House of Commons over raising college student fees the previous day, winning by only five votes despite a 166-seat Labour Party majority.
Obviously (at least obviously under British rules), had the Hutton inquiry found Blair culpable for Kelly's death in any way, he would have had to resign. Instead, the BBC's board chairman resigned, disgraced that the Beeb had broadcast a stretcher. (If only we could get rid of Rupert Murdoch like that.) Imagine, a government where those found responsible for the mistakes have to go. It's such a concept.
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http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=16007
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