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Dear Sir, YOUR letters to the editor from David Lee of Calvia are usually quite loopy, and his latest is no exception.
His latest rant against the BBC, and Andrew Gilligan in particular, is typical.
He says the BBC has been banned by Israel for blatant lying. The BBC aired some inconvenient truths about Israel's ownership of the only weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. Andrew Gilligan has also reported some inconvenient truths about “Phony Tony” and his reasons for invading another country with George Bush. Meb Cutlack's excellent letter to you explained why that happened. True, Dr David Kelly was not a “high Intelligence source”, only one of Britain's foremost experts on biological warfare, with intimate experience of Iraq as a weapons inspector, and intimate connections with British Intelligence. His views on whether Saddam could possibly have readied chemical or biological weapons within 45 minutes might have been germane to Gilligan's report. Gilligan checked his quotes, and Kelly also spoke to Susan Watts and Gavin Hewitt of the BBC on the same subject. Dr Kelly is now dead, but the man who took us to war, allowing British soldiers, and some thousands of innocent Iraqis to be killed and injured, is still ducking, diving and trying to create diversions, of which the “Gilligan Affair” is only one. Let us not forget that Blair loudly claimed the war was legal, and his cause was right, because of his published claims of imminent threat of horrendous weapons which seem to have evaporated under pressure. Even George Bush has so far got away with his tall story about Niger uranium in his State of the Union speech, by saying he only got it from British intelligence. Perhaps the British government should follow David Lee's favourites, the Israelis, in dealing with the problematical press. James Miller was taking inconvenient pictures in Gaza this May, so the IDF shot him. Dead. While he was wearing a press emblem and carrying a white flag.
Yours sincerely
Richard Parker
Pollensa
Dear Sir, Mr Lee's letter on “hope Mr Gilligan is put away...” is somewhat of a tirade against the BBC, “law unto itself” even “political agenda”, etc., and I cannot help but recall the same outcry when Margaret Thatcher was in power. It seems that political parties/leaders when in power become uncomfortable when reported upon by the BBC. This must be a good thing, for it should not be forgotten that public servants (and Prime Ministers are no exception), being elected to serve the public, must be held responsible for their actions. What we have on the Iraq issue, as I have seen fully reported in the American, Spanish, and German news media as well as the BBC is:
1. Invading another country without the United Nations authority, and against the wishes of the majority of the voting public in most countries.
2. That invasion was claimed justifiable through Iraq having weapons of mass destruction, not discovered yet. “Yellow cakes” obtained from Africa to aid in the manufacture of nuclear weapons, proven totally unfounded. The “45 minutes” to launch such weapons of mass destruction, another scaremonger statement.
3. If such weapons existed, then the monster that Saddam is (no argument there), why did he not launch them? I fear that if at some time in the future WMD are “found” by the “only” American inspectors in Iraq now, the critical world at large will suspect a “plant” to justify the invasion.
4. So, we have an invasion of a weak (military) nation by a super power, with allies, to depose a brutal dictator, but at what a cost.
Thousands of innocents killed, maimed and displaced.
A country in ruins, with the inefficiency of the occupying forces highlighted by their ineptitude to even get the power and water running at pre-war levels. Bush and Blair have a lot to answer for, and if the BBC (and others) cause/promote investigation, then this is a good thing for democracy.
In conclusion, Mr Lee's inclusion of the BBC being “anti-Israel, pro-Arab”, whilst no one can condone terrorist acts, it should be remembered that the State of Israel was founded upon just that, terrorist acts. One of which is most graphically shown on an in-house video in the Hotel King David in Jerusalem, where they proudly show the hotel was blown up by Israelis in their push for freedom/statehood, killing some 90 persons, not just Arabs, but British, Americans and Jews. Incidentally, this I saw reported on CNN, not the BBC.
Yours sincerely
Graham Phillips
Palma