[Media-watch] BBC news 9th March

[Mark and Andrea Priestley]

<FONT 
color=#0000ff>Tonight on the BBC 10pm news Matt Frei stated that the only way to 
stop war is for Saddam Hussein to capitulate completely. This seems starnge 
given that it is not Saddam Huseein that is prosecuting war. Pleasw rite to Matt 
Frei and Richrad Sambrook to correct this assertion.
<FONT 
color=#0000ff> 
<FONT 
color=#0000ff><A 
href="mailto:matt.frei at bbc.co.uk">matt.frei at bbc.co.uk
<FONT 
face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000000><A 
href="mailto:richard.sambrook at bbc.co.uk">richard.sambrook at bbc.co.uk
<FONT face=Arial 
size=2> 
My 
letter follows:
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color=#000000 size=2> 
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Dear 
Matt
I have been 
encouraged recently that the BBC reporting of the Iraq crisis has been slightly 
more balanced than previously. In particular I believe that your reporting is 
the best on offer at the BBC. I was therefore disappointed tonight to hear you 
say that the only person who can stop a war at this stage is Saddam Hussein, 
through his complete capitulation. This statement seems to be naive 
beyond belief, and demonstrates that you have swallowed the US propaganda 
hook, line and sinker.
<SPAN 
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Let me pose a few 
questions:
  Firstly 
  who is attacking whom? It does not seem to me that Saddam Hussein is 
  attacking the US. Even proponents of the war would admit that Iraq represents 
  merely a theoretical threat to the west at present. Remember that this war is 
  being waged for pre-emptive purposes if the political spin is to be believed. 
  There is little convincing evidence that Iraq even possesses weapons of mass 
  destruction, and some quite convincing evidence to suggest that any such 
  weapons were destroyed as long ago as 1991 (although this is not generally 
  reported by the BBC). For example recently discovered transcipts from Hussein 
  Kamel, the testimony of former weapons inspectors like Scott Ritter, and the 
  recent IAEA report on Iraqi nuclear capability all cast doubt on Iraq's 
  alleged capability. 
  <SPAN 
  class=064463122-09032003><SPAN 
  class=064463122-09032003>Who has manufactured this crisis? 
  Last year when war against Iraq was first mooted, this was dismiised by most 
  thinking peopla as being implausible.Now we are facing war, and the people of 
  Iraq are facing a holocaust. The situation has been achieved through a process 
  of continually shifting rhetorical goalposts. The speed with which the 
  political discourse has shifted has been breathtaking, and I believe strongly 
  that the likes of the BBC must be held at least in part accountable for this;a 
  lack of penetrating political analysis and a fear of criticising the 
  government have been combined with an approach to news which focuses on 
  entertainment - armchair voyerism thus replaces genuine political analysis, 
  and meanwhile the world slips inexorably towards 
  catastrophe.  
  Who has 
  the power to stop this madness? Not Saddam Hussein. Only our 
  leaders can achieve this by ordering the troops to return home, and to do so 
  would not be seen as weakness, but as a strong policy; the weapons inspections 
  have been resumed, they appear to be succeeeding, and Iraq continues to 
  destroy what weapons it still possesses
Please do not 
patronise your viewers by parroting US propaganda.There is only one way this 
conflict will be stopped and that is a decision by the aggressors to withdraw. 
Despite the rhetoric of politicians, this decision is not dependent on Iraq. It 
would appear that the decisioon to wage war was taken long ago regardless of 
Iraq's actions.
<SPAN 
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Yours 
sincerely,
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Mark Priestley