DID BLAIR LIE?

“I noticed that you picked up on the BBC’s story about the controversy over whether two British soldiers were “executed” by the Iraqis, as Blair alleged in a press conference. You draw hostile attention to the BBC’s “profound scepticism” about the truth of Blair’s claim, and their reprinting of the Iraqi denial ‘without comment’. You may not have been following this closely in the British press, where it is an issue about the accuracy of Coalition information. There appear to be two completely inconsistent stories here. Blair claimed that the two soldiers had been executed. The family of one of the soldiers claims that they had been told by both the sergeant and the colonel responsible for this soldier that he had been killed in action, with an implication that there were eye-witnesses, and have accused Blair of lying…” – more reader skepticism and comment, on the Letters Page.

THE BEEB FAILS: British opinion is now more optimistic than American opinion about when this war will end. More interestingly, both Americans and Britons still expect a long campaign – months and months. In that sense, maybe the BBC has had an effect in portraying the costs and difficulties – but it will only redound to Bush’s and Blair’s advantage if the war picks up pace. I have a feeling the expectations game has gone far too dramatically in the direction of pessimism.