Greenpeace co-founder Paul Watson said:

“It doesn’t matter what is true, it only matters what people believe is true.”

The BBC is going to tell you a story…..

Next Monday Panorama broadcasts this:

The Spies Who Fooled the World

On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the Iraq War, Panorama reveals how key aspects of the secret intelligence used by Downing Street and the White House to justify the invasion were based on fabrication, wishful thinking and lies. Peter Taylor tracks down some of those responsible and reports on the remarkable story of how, in the months before the war, two highly-placed sources – close to Saddam Hussein – talked secretly to the CIA and MI6. Their intelligence said Iraq did not have an active WMD programme – but it was simply dismissed.

‘fabrication, wishful thinking and lies.‘…extremely emotive and powerful words…..and not the whole truth…nowhere near the whole truth…..as much a lie from the BBC as some of the intelligence was in its emphasis (sexing up) and omission.

Presumably the BBC is claiming the ‘Spies’ are intelligence agents of the US and UK and that they willingly used intelligence they knew was wrong…thereby undermining every claim about Iraqi WMD and the justification for war……

…No intelligence is ever 100%…as Blair said decisions are made based on “the calculus of risk” as well as intended outcomes and probable outcomes…not necessarily the same things.

Awkward that the BBC’s own Iain watson admitted:

‘In fact, George Bush’s predecessor, Bill Clinton, in 1998, finally took the view that regime change in Iraq was necessary because he could not trust Saddam to disarm.’ 

An inconvenient fly in the ointment is that even the weapons inspectors thought that Saddam had a WMD programme…as he almost certainly did  have….research and development if not final production.  France, Germany and Russia all believed saddam had WMD.

Why does the BBC broadcast this decade old story?  The only reason is Hutton…the BBC can’t accept it was badly wrong and has spent years skulking Achilles-like in its tent plotting its revenge, aiming to claim redemption.

Presumably Dr David kelly was not a liar, a fabricator or someone prone to wishful thinking…

Weapons inspector Dr David Kelly was held in high esteem by his colleagues:

‘Among his fellow inspectors Dr Kelly was considered the consummate inspector.
They admired him tremendously for his very effective interviewing technique; his encyclopedic knowledge; and his determination to out the truth about the former Soviet and Iraqi biological weapons programmes.   Put another way, David’s colleagues were somewhat in awe of his skills as an inspector.’

Here is what David kelly had to say about Iraq and its weapons programme…..

‘I had no doubt about the veracity of it (the Iraq Dossier) was absolute.’…..’It is an accurate document, I think it is a fair reflection of the intelligence that was available and it’s presented in a very sober and factual way….it is well written.’

“I was personally sympathetic to the war because I recognised from a decade’s work the menace of Iraq’s ability to further develop it’s non-conventional weapons programmes…..We were 100% certain that Saddam had a biological weapons programme.”

The BBC can manufacture and distort history all it likes but the truth is somewhat different to that which they want us to believe.

The BBC’s own policy is ‘when the legend becomes fact print the legend.’.…. the BBC fully intends to be the only one that writes the legend and to be the last voice heard.

That is the problem with the BBC…any complaint against it can be swatted aside and the BBC has of course the resources and  ability to defend itself and limit voices raised against it having the invaluable ability to give itself a ‘good Press’…and as we see it can go on for years producing programmes with the sole intent of recovering its ‘good name’.

The BBC’s Dan Snow gives us a guided tour of Syrian history in ‘A History of Syria with Dan Snow’

But who is guiding Snow safely around the warzone is the question at least one Syrian is asking:

‘A History of Syria with Dan Snow (BBC Two) was an excellent opportunity to tell a complex story. But while it provided useful background information, experienced Syria-watchers were likely to be exasperated by its simplistic analysis and reliance on Syrian government sympathisers. ‘

I’m certain Dan Snow is just exercising some ‘real politik’ and doing what he has to do to make the film rather than deliberately siding with any particular faction or dictator.

The same might not be said about Hughe Sykes who seems to say that perhaps we should have left Saddam Hussein in place in what is an entirely negative piece about the situation in Iraq and which employs highly selective quotes to paint a bleak scene of desolation.

He manufactures a conclusion from an American soldier’s comment that this is a ‘Christian Army’ that the US is on a ‘crusade’…..that of course would entail ‘recovering land from the   Muslims’ and presumably converting the Heathens….none of which was intended or attempted. It is the sort of careless talk that drives or excuses the radicalisation of Muslims and incites terrorism and leaps all too readily to the lips of BBC journalists intent on undermining any success in the Iraq War.

Sykes suggests that no work has really been done to rebuild the infrastructure of Iraq and his example is the electricity supply which is still unreliable.

The US spent something like $52 bn in Iraq…..the electricity supply was in ever more decrepit state before the war producing 5 gigawatts of power…it now produces  over 10 gigawatts….so somehow they are producing double the electricity than pre-war…..Nothing to do with the Americans presumably.
The death rate in Iraq (4.7/1000) is less than the USA’s (8.9/1000)…and less than Mexico’s (4.9/1000).

Mexico drug war deaths over five years now total 47,515

In Iraq the death rate is around 4,500/year from terrorism….half the Mexican murder rate in the drugs war.

Corruption?  Today we hear that council planning officers are selling their services to guide big business around the inconveniences of planning law…..that is just a very minor example of what goes on in this country.

Iraq is certainly not anywhere near perfect or close to a stable, democratic, progressive and economically successful state.  It is riven by tensions produced by having three very powerful factions jostling for power…the Sunnis, the Shia and the Kurds…plus jihadists stirring the pot.  It has external parties with vested interests such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, amongst others..and of course America, all interfering and giving support to their ‘side’.  It has massive infrastructure problems from the power supply, water and schooling…and jobs…and a fast growing population.

‘Although all combat brigades have been withdrawn, Iraq still remains embroiled in ethno-sectarian violence, an internal and foreign refugee crisis, generally weak infrastructure, and recurrent corruption within the public sector.‘

Read that though and you could just as easily apply it to the UK….not to such a large degree but only dissimilar because of the different scale….and no one can say we aren’t just as corrupt as any of these countries.

The Americans certainly made big mistakes but what if they hadn’t taken Saddam out?

Yes it’s OK for Sykes to run around pointing out ‘failure’ but the BBC always fails to consider what the alternative was…that of leaving Saddam in place.

Iraq has had two successful elections and has just passed its latest budget…though with great disagreements.  It is ramping up oil production and investing in infrastructure and the economy…but all this takes time.  Our own economy has been in the doldrums for nearly 5 years and we have one of the biggest economies in the world with comparatively great education and infrastructure….and yet we are struggling…and we were still rationing food and petrol after the end of WWII…petrol rationed until 1950 and food till 1954…..so how does the BBC expect a war zone like Iraq which suffered a decade of sanctions before the war to suddenly turn into a thriving fully functioning economy and politically stable state in a matter of a few years?

Yes Iraq is struggling…but is it possible to say the ending of the Saddam regime wasn’t worthwhile and has failed as a great humanitarian scheme?

And remember this…the US pulled its troops out of Iraq prematurely, as they will from Afghanistan, because of intense pressure generated by the Media….the Media which published stories exactly like Sykes who is paintng a relentlessly bleak picture of Iraq and portraying the war as a failure.

Killings went up as the troops withdrew and the Jihadist moved in.

As fighting increases and it looks like a nation is falling apart the Media will start asking why the troops were withdrawn and Iraq or Afghanistan were ‘abandoned’.

Panorama has already done one ‘investigation’ into the readiness of Afghan forces to combat the Taliban without Coalition backup…and pronounced them unfit for task.  You can write the scripts for years to come as journalists dole out the blame without ever once looking at their own responsibility.

Of course what really messed up Afghanistan was socialism….come to think of it the Baath Party was a sociailist enterprise too….but that might be a step too far for the BBC to admit and pass on the blame to.

Here you go folks, time for a new one of these!

Wonder have you heard Gus O’Donnell present “In defence of bureaucracy” on BBC Radio 4? I wonder what it is about someone defending a bloated bureaucracy that so appeals to the BBC? Cough.

The editor of Today is off to a new job next Monday.

You may think ‘Good, perhaps we might have a different take on world events under new management’..…as always with the BBC you’d be wrong.

Ceri Thomas is now ‘Head of News’….in charge of just about everything:

‘The BBC has confirmed that Ceri Thomas has been appointed head of programmes at BBC News.

Currently the editor of Radio 4 Today, he starts his new role on Monday 18 March.

He will replace Stephen Mitchell, who resigned from the BBC after the Pollard review criticised management over a dropped Newsnight report featuring allegations of child abuse against Jimmy Savile.

Thomas will oversee all major current affairs output, investigative journalism and interview programmes such as Panorama, Today and Newsnight.

His remit also covers news programmes on Radio 1, Radio 5 Live and Asian Network.

He described his new role as “an enormous privilege and a huge challenge”.

“So much of the heart and soul of BBC News lives in this department. It’s full of variety and ambition and endeavour.

“It’s where we take risks – calculated editorial risks, but risks all the same – and it’s vital that we don’t stop taking them.” ‘

This is from a speech Patten gave recently….not much needs to be said other than perhaps it is interesting as to just how much reach Patten admits the BBC has compared to Sky…and how influential it is in defining the cultural and social narrative of Britain….something they would never admit to whilst fighting the Murdoch BSkyB bid….and how the scale of the BBC allows it to take risks that commercial companies cannot….of course it is the nature of the funding of the BBC that really allows it to take risks….though you have to ask ‘what risks are they then?‘….they didn’t use the scale of funding to buy surefire sports rights….and repeats of Dad’s Army and Top Gear is hardly cutting edge stuff.

‘We have to aim always for the truth, including the truth however horrible it may be about ourselves. 

The BBC aspires to a series of ideals – universal reach, accuracy in reporting, impartiality, pluralism, the highest standards of quality and distinctiveness – that should never allow for complacency or the development of a “holier than thou” spirit.

I think the public buy into these ideals.  But that means they are rightly hard on the BBC when it fails to live up to them.

Inevitably, the trust on which the BBC’s place in our national life above all depends has been hit by the Savile scandal and its handling.  Despite that, the polls continue to show that the public still trusts the BBC far more than any other news organisation.    That trust translates into audience habits and behaviour so that, for instance, while the BBC accounts for just over a quarter of all the TV news minutes which are broadcast it is responsible for something nearer three quarters of all the TV news that is consumed.  I am a big admirer of Sky’s rolling news programmes (which took for instance an admirably independent line in covering the problems of the Murdoch empire), but when the Trust reviewed the BBC News Channel in 2011 we found that it had a higher reach than Sky News even in homes with a Sky box.

Second, any well-founded criticism of the quality and accuracy of our journalism will always require urgent attention.  On almost every sensitive issue from the Middle East to climate change, from Europe to macro-economic management, we are likely to find ourselves criticised from both sides.  It is not enough for the BBC to argue that if it is being criticised from both sides, it must have got things just about right.  We have to try to ensure that we reflect the complexity of issues, and that intelligent contrary opinions are given proper weight.

We must never be driven simply by ratings.  As I have argued consistently since I became Chairman of the Trust in mid-2011, we have a licence to be different.  The BBC’s scale, security and independence allow us the freedom to experiment, to be creative, to take risks.  To surprise, sometimes to shock and even sometimes, unfortunately, to offend.

That is what it should mean to be a public service broadcaster, and in the BBC’s case to be at the social and cultural heart of our nation’s life, a part of the national conversation.

For the BBC, the challenge has always been to set our own standards and boundaries in the right way so that we can promote our core purpose – the pursuit of truth – in a way that the public trust and respect.  And that includes from time to time pursuing the truth about ourselves even when it is grisly.’

‘….pursuing the truth about ourselves even when it is grisly.’….so publish the Balen Report.

No wonder John Humphrys is so grumpy in the morning…he obviously doesn’t feel able to have any breakfast from the staff canteen when at work:

Standards have sunk to a new low at the BBC as workers in the News Department are knee deep in battling a hygiene crisis.

Health and safety experts have stepped in to check everyone is toeing the line, putting up a sign in the new Broadcasting House offices’ kitchen warning staff not to wash their feet in the sink.

How dare the BBC lecture hospitals etc etc….

Whilst having a look through the BBC tweets I came across this from Lyse Doucet advertising her ‘interview’ with ‘Alice Walker, author of ‘The Colour Purple’,  one of America’s most successful writers and campaigners. She’s also been highly critical of successive US presidents. So, is President Obama doing any better? Newshour’s Lyse Doucet caught up with her in London. Lyse began by asking about the significance of the title of a new film about her life, ‘Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth.’ :

lyse doucet ‏@bbclysedoucet

“the more u honour truth, the more hopeful u can be” Alice Walker on @BBCNewshour @Alicewalkerfilm http://ow.ly/iDaXD

Alice had a lot to say, she is after all a poet and activist.

David (Preiser) you’d better take a seat!

‘The United States is founded on  a lie…it wasn’t a democracy when it was founded because there were no women in government…just wealthy white men…and it is still run by wealthy white men.’

(er….??????)

‘Obama doesn’t listen to the masses only to the men with money…he only listen to the Bankers…not the Poets.’

‘He must listen to the women, children..and the Poets.’

If only she took her own advice.

One of Lyse Doucets few questions….‘How can we solve the world’s problems?’

Answer….’We must have women as the leadership….women of colour.  White women have been in cahoots with men for too long…they have lost the ability to know how to live….witch burnings  have frightened European women so severely that they lost the ability to stand alone and fight for what is just.’

Must be right because Doucet said thankyou very much, what a lovely interview.  Doucet or Doormat?

How does the BBC accept such absolute racist, sexist, stupid nonsense from someone just because they are ‘of colour’?   Why are musicians, poets and writers given such license by the BBC to comment on world affairs when they are no more equipped than you or me…and you can guarantee if you or me said such things we would soon face a ‘twitter storm’ from the very same people who are probably right now listening in rapturous wonder to Walker’s words?

Having said all that..if they’d listened to Kipling…..

Not a word of apology from Donnison and Co for demonising Israelis by falsely accusing them of killing their colleague’s baby son when disproved by UN human right’s report.

Donnison is keen to bring us these two looks at possible failures of Israeli military:

Jon Donnison ?@JonDonnison
#Haaretz: Study casts doubt of success rate of #Israel’s Iron Dome Missile shield. Intercepts “perhaps as low as 5%” http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/how-many-rockets-has-iron-dome-really-intercepted.premium-1.508277 …

Jon Donnison ?@JonDonnison
Jereuslem Post: Israelis plant trees to protect against #Gaza rockets. Some Kibbutz residents skeptical. http://www.jpost.com/Features/InThespotlight/Article.aspx?id=305935 … #Israel

And Lyse Doucet thinks it important to mention another UN human right’s report:

lyse doucet ‏@bbclysedoucet

UN’s #Syria Human Rights report released today – grim account war crimes. We take another look at #Haswiya http://ow.ly/iIM04

Some claims of BBC bias are based on fact, others are based on pure fantasy as this ‘report’, ‘Racism and Zionism Rule the BBC’s Failing News Agenda’ from 21st Century Wire illustrates….unknown who backs 21Wire but if it isn’t Iran I’d be surprised…Patrick Henningsen, founder of 21Wire, being a stout defender of Press TV and of Assad’s Iran friendly Syria………

Protest demands BBC lift reporting blackout on Palestinian hunger strikers

Monday 18th February 2013 was a day to demonstrate against the BBC’s blackout of news coverage of the plight of Palestinian hunger strikers.

All very worthy….However a quick look at BBC coverage shows that the BBC have been far from lax in their desire to report the hunger strikes from the beginning…….so not really biased in favour of the Israelis…who’dathunk?:

• 7 March 2013
  • Shot Palestinian Mohammed Asfour dies in hospital

    

    Middle East / 7 March 2013Bank village of Aboud on 22 February. He had been protesting against the continued detention of four hunger strikers after the death of a detainee.

• 27 February 2013
  • Gaza rocket lands near Ashkelon in southern Israel

    

    Middle East / 27 February 2013Israeli forces and Palestinian protesters in the West Bank. Violence erupted over the detention of hunger strikers and the death of a Palestinian…

• 25 February 2013
  • Palestinian detainee Arafat Jaradat’s funeral held

    

    Middle East / 25 February 2013… the Israeli army and Palestinian protesters angry at the continued detention of four Palestinian hunger strikers in Israel jails. There’s a fear…

• 24 February 2013
  • Palestinian prisoners stage fast over inmate death

    

    Middle East / 24 February 2013… between the Israeli army and Palestinian youths over the continued detention of four hunger strikers. The clashes. Thousands of Palestinian prisoners…

• 22 February 2013
  • Clashes over hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners

    

    Middle East / 22 February 2013It follows a week of violence amid calls for four Palestinian hunger strikers to be released. Reuters news agency cited witnesses as saying dozens…

• 21 February 2013
  • Many injured in West Bank protests over hunger strikes

    

    Middle East / 21 February 2013Israel argues the men are a security threat. One of the hunger strikers, Samer Issawi, has been on an. More than 60 people have been injured in…

• 18 February 2013
  • Protest in West Bank for Palestinian hunger strikers

    

    Middle East / 18 February 2013Protests have been held in the West Bank in solidarity with Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli jails. The Middle East Quartet (UN, US, EU…

• 22 November 2012
  • Anti-Israel group makes protest at Scottish Parliament

    

    Edinburgh, Fife & East Scotland / 22 November 2012Members of a group called We Are All Hana Shalabi, named after a Palestinian hunger striker, scaled the roof of the building’s entrance. They…

• 11 May 2012
  • Palestinian rally for hunger strikers

    

    11 May 2012In Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem, thousands of Palestinians have taken to the streets in a sign of solidarity with prisoners on hunger strike…

• 8 May 2012
  • Palestinian hunger striker admitted to Israeli hospital

    

    Middle East / 8 May 2012… about the hunger strikers and urged the Israeli government “make available all necessary medical assistance and to allow family visits”. Palestinian…

• 7 May 2012
  • Israel Supreme Court rejects hunger strikers’ appeal

    

    Middle East / 7 May 2012Mr Diab is reported to have collapsed and was rushed to hospital. Mass hunger strike More than 1,500 Palestinian prisoners have joined the two…

• 3 May 2012
  • Israel’s Supreme Court hears hunger strikers’ appeal

    

    Middle East / 3 May 2012… outside the jails where they are being held. There are clearly concerns that should the health of the hunger strikers dramatically worsen the…

• 2 May 2012
  • Israeli treatment of hunger strikers ‘appals’ UN expert

    

    Middle East / 2 May 2012… in Israeli prisons”, as Palestinian inmates continue a mass hunger strike. Special Rapporteur Richard Falk said Israel had to treat hunger strikers…

• 25 April 2012
  • Palestinian prisoners in Israel continue hunger strike

    

    Middle East / 25 April 2012The Israel Prison Service has said that more than 1,300 Palestinian prisoners remain on hunger strike, more than a week after they began their…

• 2 April 2012
  • Palestinian hunger striker Hana Shalabi exiled to Gaza

    

    Middle East / 2 April 2012A Palestinian woman prisoner who had been on hunger strike for more than 40 days has been released by the Israeli authorities and exiled to Gaza.

• 16 August 2004
  • Israel turns up heat on prisoners

    Middle East / 16 August 2004… prisoners Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, himself a virtual prisoner of Israel at his West Bank headquarters, hailed the hunger strikers as…