Hello,
Normally on Newsnight we don't tell everyone what we're going to be doing on the programme next Wednesday.
But next week is different - we're going to put the allies on trial. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4507010.stm
The on-going controversy about the United States' use of, and Britain's indirect involvement in, the "extraordinary rendition" of terror suspects has taken on a life of its own. And that has come hard on the heels of the allegations about the use of white phosphorous at Fallujah.
So we reckon it's time to stage a special programme pulling both issues together and asking: have the allies been guilty of war crimes in their prosecution of the war in Iraq and the war on terror?
Unusual suspects
The accusations of war crimes are coming thick and fast and not just from those who opposed the war from the outset.
The bloggers http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsa/n5ctrl/tvseq/newsnight/console.html?cpsnumber=4447906 are at it of course, as well as Harold Pinter, Professor Richard Dawkins, Tony Benn and others, but when people like the former law lord Lord Steyn http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=1284 and Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsa/n5ctrl/tvseq/newsnight/console.html?cpsnumber=4485650 , Colin Powell's former right hand man, start questioning the legality of the allies' actions, something big is up.
Trial by TV
In next Wednesday's programme we'll aim to devote the whole show - news events permitting - to an exploration of these questions.
The programme, presented by Jeremy Paxman, will be in the form of a trial, with barristers, witnesses and a jury of real people, specially selected by a polling organisation to represent an undecided cross-section of British opinion.
The human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith will make the case for the prosecution, the criminal barrister John Cooper will take the defence brief.
I'm sure the old criticism of "trial by TV" will be made in some quarters, but the aim in using this format is to have a scrupulously and transparently even-handed, forensic and detailed examination of both sides of the argument.
I promise there'll be no wigs or gavels.
Where's your evidence?
We're also keen to get as much input as possible from you. Viewers e-mail us all the time saying "why don't you ask him this", or "why don't you cover that?" Now there's the opportunity to play a direct role in our TV trial.
We've already had masses of e-mails highlighting allegations of illegal actions by the allies and counter arguments questioning those claims. Now we want more.
We'll make all this material available to our advocates to use in whatever way they wish, and we'll publish as much of it as possible here on the website.
We've already heard from one serving officer with first-hand testimony of events in Fallujah http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4507010.stm#officer , so if you have evidence or an argument that can help convict or acquit, we want to hear it.
Of course it's not a real court or a real trial. The verdict doesn't matter, but surely the arguments do.
NEWSNIGHT STAGES 'WAR CRIMES TRIAL' - CLICK FOR MORE http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4507010.stm