Comments on Green Ideas: I was at the Iraq Inquiry watching Alastair Campbe...

Main post - Alistair Campbell: don’t know much abo...

2010-01-17T15:20:25.540Z

Main post - Alistair Campbell: don’t know much about him. From your post, I guess it seems he ‘s got caught in the ‘sexing-up’ process of the report and all what he is saying in his testimony now: That was above my pay grade (it’s the infamous quote used by Obama re Abortion during his 2008 campaign)

One very important point: As a new friend, I’m delighted and comforted to learn of your skill and ability in finding food and drink! Hats off to the Awesome ‘Hunters-Gatherers 101’ How many can do what you did?:-) Not many!

Side-bar - Babies: Nice one! You may like reading: Lee Silver, Remaking Eden: Cloning and beyond in a brave new world
http://128.112.44.57/challenging/RemakingEdenTop.htm
http://128.112.44.57/challenging/CNmedia/articles/EdenEpilogue.pdf

Hi Anon No doubt the dossier was sexed up, and no ...

2010-01-14T22:00:30.156Z

Hi Anon
No doubt the dossier was sexed up, and no doubt AC played his part, but really I don't think that AC is to blame for us going to war

On Scarlett I disagree. I think he sexed up the dossier just as much as AC did. His reward? Director of MI6

What about: "I was told that the foreword was a p...

2010-01-14T14:46:58.777Z

What about:

"I was told that the foreword was a political statement and that I had no business altering or commenting on the tone or feel of it, my role was purely to advise if there were factual errors."

IMHO the most telling part of Campbell's evidence was where he admitted that the intelligence that "battlefield munitions" could be employed in around 20-40 minutes transmuted into, in the foreword, a statement that "weapons could be deployed within 45 minutes". Whilst this does not render the statement untrue, it does make it misleading.

Campbell's only "defence" to this charge was to argue that if he was in the business of "sexing up" the document he would have used the 20 minutes time frame and not 45 minutes was disingenuous. 20 or 45 minutes makes no difference. "Battlefield munitions" vs [long range nuclear delivery] "weapons" does. All the difference in the world. Yet the changed sentence is not a lie, just a misleadingly broad statement. As it is not factually incorrect, it is quite plausible that Scarlett would not have felt that he had the locus standi to alter what was, after all, to be a personal political statement by the PM.