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Flock Flies South: Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate
in SC
Top Two BBC Heads Resign After "Whitewash" Hutton
Report Clears Blair, Blames BBC
Flock Flies South: Democratic Presidential Candidates
Debate in SC
INTRO: The invasion of Iraq was the main focal point in
the Democratic presidential debate as all seven candidates
took to the stage in South Carolina five days before seven
states vote in the 2004 campaign's biggest day so far.
All seven Democratic Party candidates debated in South Carolina
last night, six days before the South's first primaries. South
Carolina votes next Tuesday in the 2004 campaign's biggest
day yet. The same day there are primary elections in Delaware,
Missouri, Arizona, North Dakota and Oklahoma, and caucuses
in New Mexico.
The debate, which was moderated by NBC’s Tom Brokaw,
remained civil with the candidates spending most of their
time criticizing the foreign and domestic policies of the
Bush administration instead of criticizing each other as they
have done in the past.
The Iraq war dominated large parts of the evening, but there
were few disagreements among the candidates. Senators John
Edwards and John Kerry and Howard Dean all called for an independent
commission to investigate the intelligence on which Bush argued
that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
White House Goes On Offensive After Kay Admits Iraq Intelligence
"Almost All Wrong"
INTRO: Former chief US weapons inspector David Kay called
for an independent investigation into what he called "fundamentally
flawed" intelligence over Iraq's weapons capability.
We speak with 27-year career CIA analyst Ray McGovern.
The comments of former chief US weapons inspector David Kay
since his resignation last week have become a premiere issue
in the debate over the Bush administration’s justification
for invading Iraq. The former weapons inspector has also become
a major reference point for the Democratic candidates vying
for the party’s nomination.
Kay said this week that an independent investigation should
be conducted into what he called the flawed intelligence over
Iraq’s weapons capability. Kay said the intelligence
was "fundamentally flawed but was not deliberately distorted."
Kay’s call came during testimony before the Senate Armed
Services Committee. The Bush administration dismissed the
idea of an independent investigation and said inspections
should continue.
The White House has sent National Security Advisor Condoleezza
Rice on the offensive in a series of interviews with large
media outlets. In a significant shift from the administration’s
prewar allegations about Saddam Hussein’s possession
of weapons of mass destruction, Rice has been saying, "When
you are dealing with secretive regimes that want to deceive,
you're never going to be able to be positive.”
- Ray McGovern, 27-year career analyst with the CIA. He
is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for
Sanity. His latest article is entitled “Nothing To
Preempt”
Link: www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/9841
- White House Press Briefing, January 28, 2004.
Top Two BBC Heads Resign After "Whitewash"
Hutton Report Clears Blair, Blames BBC
INTRO: The BBC issued an apology and its chairman and director
general resigned following a judicial inquiry in Britain that
cleared Prime Minister Tony Blair of exaggerating intelligence
claims about Iraq in the lead-up to the invasion.
A judicial inquiry in Britain has cleared Prime Minister
Tony Blair of exaggerating intelligence claims about Iraq
in the lead-up to the invasion.
The inquiry headed by Lord Hutton blamed the BBC for airing
what it described as unfounded allegations that the British
government had sexed up intelligence about Iraq.
In response to the Hutton Report, BBC chairman Gavyn Davies
submitted his resignation and the BBC issued an apology for
inaccuracies in its original report. Following Davies’
resignation, BBC director general Greg Dyke also resigned.
The BBC’s original report on May 29 led to a chain
of events that resulted in the apparent suicide in July of
David Kelly. Kelly was a British weapons expert who was identified
publicly as the source for the BBC story. The Hutton Report
is being widely viewed as a whitewash by critics of the Iraq
invasion.
Greg Dyke was harshly critical of former communications director
Alastair Campbell who spent yesterday doing a series of interviews,
stating he had always told the truth and that he had been
vindicated by Lord Hutton. Dyke called Campbell "remarkably
ungracious", and said Lord Hutton's conclusions were
"quite clearly wrong" on some points of law.
- Glen Rangwala, lecturer in politics at Cambridge University
in Britain. He also writes a weekly column for the Independent
of London. He was the researcher who discovered Britain's
Iraq weapons dossier was stolen from a doctoral student’s
thesis.
- Greg Palast, investigative reporter with the BBC and
author of the books ‘The Best Democracy Money Can
Buy’ and ‘Democracy and Regulation’
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie
Karran, Ana Nogueira and Elizabeth Press. Mike Di Filippo
is our music maestro and engineer.
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