[via Sam Smith's Progressive Review]
HUTTON HOOPLA
GUARDIAN - If Tony Blair thought that the Hutton inquiry would draw a line under the Kelly affair, he was utterly mistaken. So unequivocal was Lord Hutton's report, so apparent his willingness to give the government the benefit of the doubt, that only two papers swallow it whole. . .
<snip>
Mr Blair, most of the papers agree, has been very fortunate. "It is just flipping unbelievable," complains Boris Johnson in the Telegraph. "He is a mixture of Harry Houdini and a greased piglet. He is barely human in his elusiveness ... Blair, Hoon, Scarlett, the whole lot of them, have been sprayed with more whitewash than a Costa Brava timeshare. Hutton has succumbed to blindness of Nelsonian proportions. As snow-jobs go, this beats the Himalayas."
[...]
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"He is a mixture of Harry Houdini and a greased piglet. He is barely human in his elusiveness ..."
Oh, that's a priceless line.
NPR spent a fair amount of time today reporting on the Hutton report.
Unsurprisingly, all (in my hearing at least) of the pundits, media analysts, chatter-droids, etc, put on-air were of the sort who see this business as the BBC's darkest day ever.
Using NPR as your guide, you'd believe everyone in the UK, down to the newest of new born babies, was applauding Blair's "triumph" and preparing the flaming torches for a BBC funeral pyre.
Meanwhile, in Australia, another slippery character declares his exoneration, clinging tenaciously to Blair's buttocks...
Iraq critics owe me apology: Howard By Brendan Nicholson Canberra January 30, 2004
John Howard said yesterday that the British report clearing the Blair Government of claims it "sexed up" its intelligence on Saddam Hussein's weapons also exonerated him. "Those who have accused us of taking Australia to war on a lie owe me as much an apology as those who made equal accusations against Tony Blair owe him an apology," the Prime Minister said.
Asked if he was concerned that intelligence warnings that Iraq had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction appeared to have been incorrect, Mr Howard said: "It's still too early to make a final judgment. If you wait for proof beyond all reasonable doubt, as I said more than a year ago, you face a potential Pearl Harbour situation."
[...]
full at -
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/29/1075340782237.html
...
DRM