John Humphrys wasn’t having a very good morning today as he tried to manufacture a link between the 2003 invasion of Iraq and ISIS whilst interviewing US diplomat Paul Bremer who ran Iraq after the invasion.
Humphrys has history on Iraq being fervently opposed to the invasion and consistently making that clear throughout the time the US was in Iraq starting of course with his and Andrew Gilligan’s misleading allegation against Tony Blair…an allegation that may have coloured future public perception of the war and subsequent determination of politicians to execute it in a manner that would have brought a swifter and more complete conclusion…and less cost in lives, including our own British troops.
Humphrys made the uncategorical statement during the occupation that one million Iraqis had been killed, at a time when not even the most pessimistic were coming up with a figure anywhere near that. Humphrys also told us wrongly, that a recommendation to adopt the ‘surge’ of US troops into Iraq was not in the ISG report….unfortunately it was…..
We could, however, support a short-term redeployment or surge of American combat forces to stabilize Baghdad, or to speed up the training and equipping mission, if the U.S. commander in Iraq determines that such steps would be effective.
Humphrys then went on to tell us that the ‘much vaunted surge’ was failing…despite the fact that only a few troops had actually arrived at that time and it was planned to take a considerable length of time to accomplish….and in the end the ‘much vaunted surge’ was indeed successful.
Humphrys wasn’t alone of course, many BBC journalists presented us with their own prejudiced opinion rather than facts… Fergal Keane tells Jay Garner his opinion:
’Iraq was a reckless adventure that has destroyed the lives of millions and killed 10’s of thousands, you must feel guilty about it.’
Humphrys in his latest interview with Bremer pushes the same narrative but seems remarkably unaware of the facts which undermine his own views as Bremer shoots him down every time…on top of that he keeps trying to make that link with ISIS.
Humphrys uses that old journalist’s trick of using ‘Some people might say’ when they are merely putting their own views forward.
Here Humphrys claims ‘some people might say‘ that Iraq was a catastrophic error and we are reaping the rewards of that today….and that democracy has deepened sectarianisms and lead to what we are seeing today. ( The BBC likes a good old fashioned dictatorial Empire…the Raj excepted of course…communist, european, Islamic…just loves them)
He continues that theme in a following interview with William Hague (08:13) when he asks ‘Do you accept that the invasion was not only a mistake but a catastrophic mistake?’
He starts from the premise that it was a mistake rather than asking a neutral question.
Hague makes the point that you can’t link 2003 to today saying that we shouldn’t always see events in terms of Western intervention, there are other major forces at work in the world. The BBC of course always applies the doctrine of Justinian’s Flea and narrows historic consequences down to a guilty moment in time…usually one where the British have a footprint.
Humphrys then turns to Hague’s ‘red carpet’ moment with Brangelina claiming Hague must have been embarrassed to be photographed with them…saying he looked starstruck and must have been diverted from real issues of the day.
This was the photograph…hardly starstruck, nor indeed anything really remarkable about the photo especially if you know the circumstances.
Humphrys could of course have talked about the below photo from the same conference, but chose not to…or could have mentioned that Hague was co-hosting the conference on sexual violence with Jolie…the same Jolie who is a UN special envoy….so why not ask the UN why they use a ‘film star’ to front their events?:
He could have used this photo from the BBC’s own report:
Angelina Jolie has said sexual violence in conflict is now “firmly on the top table of international diplomacy”, as a global conference on the subject ended.
The actress and UN special envoy praised male leaders prepared to confront “the taboo” around the issue.
Ms Jolie was speaking alongside UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, who co-hosted the London summit with her.
Here’s Hague and Jolie again…pretty glam huh?
Or again…….
The conference was a major event in international diplomatic terms…as the BBC report above admits…and yet Humphrys makes a cheap attack on Hague based upon a single photograph of him walking into the conference centre with his co-host.
The Daily Mail reports the interview:
Hague dismisses ‘ridiculous’ claims he was starstruck hobnobbing with Pitt and Jolie while war raged in Iraq
William Hague today dismissed ‘ridiculous’ criticism of his decision to spend four days with Hollywood star Angelina Jolie while war raged in Iraq.
The Foreign Secretary appeared to accuse Radio 4 presenter John Humphrys of not asking intelligent questions about his appearances with Miss Jolie and her husband Brad Pitt.
Mr Hague insisted the star-studded summit to end sexual violence against women in war did not divert his attention away from the crisis of the day, stressing the UK government was ‘entirely capable of doing both’.
Last week the pair hosted a four-day summit in London, which culminated in a new international protocol which they hope will ‘shatter the culture of impunity’ around sexual violence in war.
However, it meant that as Islamist jihadists swept through large areas of Iraq, Mr Hague was posing for photographs with two of the world’s biggest film stars.
Today Mr Hague insisted the government was capable of focussing on immediate problems while also addressing long-term issues, like sexual violence in war at the summit.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Anybody who thinks that should have been there, should have come along to it… This is about conflict prevention.
‘It brought together most of the world. We’re not going to solve conflicts of the many sorts we debate on this programme unless we address these appalling crimes.
‘The idea that you can never deal with long-term issues because there’s always something short-term, I always find rather ridiculous.’
And in apparent swipe at Mr Humphrys for even asking the question, he added: ‘With respect, I think the basis of your question has less basis than most of the highly intelligent questions.’
You could I suppose, using Humphrys’ criteria, ask why Humphrys wasted so much time during the BBC’s prestigious news programme making facile, point scoring, cheap shots when so much more important news is competing for his attention.
Then you could ask when Humphrys said this a while back…..
“If abuse that went on in Catholic Church had gone on in a lay organisation, it would be shut down”
…why he now thinks sexual violence used as a weapon in war, world wide, shouldn’t merit so much of Hague’s attention….or indeed if he thinks the BBC should be shut down…the quote coming before the Savile revelations.