[Media-watch] FW: Urgent - Wednesday Hutton Debate

[Mark and Andrea]

Please give the following some attention. My letter to my MP is at the
bottom of this message if people want to copy bits of it.

-----Original Message-----
From: Gerard Rosenberg, Our World Our Say
[mailto:gerardr at ourworldoursay.org]
Sent: 03 February 2004 14:35
To: mrp3 at stir.ac.uk
Subject: Urgent - Wednesday Hutton Debate
Importance: High


Dear Supporter,
Tomorrow, Parliament will be debating the Hutton Inquiry. I am urging you to
join with the 50,000 other Our World Our Say supporters and to contact your
MP by phone or fax about this issue.

See http://www.owos.info/ for details of how you can pressure them to call
for a FULL and OPEN independent inquiry.

Tony Blair is talking of an inquiry into the intelligence surrounding the
war. However, we are concerned he will use such an opportunity to shift the
blame onto the intelligence services.

We are calling for a FULL and OPEN inquiry that will reveal all the
political reasons why this country was taken to war, when millions of
British people (and others from around the world) were against it.

Since the release of the Hutton Report opinion polls have shown the majority
of the public share our concerns and are extremely dissatisfied with the
Report findings.

We are still waiting for answers from the Prime Minister about the
credibility of the intelligence used, about the way in which it was
manipulated, and about the aims of British foreign policy in a complex and
changing world.

This issue will not go away while British soldiers continue to lose their
lives, while our armed services are daily in harm's way, and while the war
is costing us £5m a day. Britain is a major terrorist target.

We need to be reassured that the top priority for British foreign policy
should be genuine British interests and values, rather than merely obliging
President Bush.

If you have not already done so then please make the time to contact your MP
and demand a Full and Independent Inquiry. The time is to act is NOW.

Please go to: http://www.owos.info/ - It is the ONLY opportunity you have to
pressure your MP to listen to your opinion.

Thank you for your support.
Yours sincerely,

Gerard Rosenberg
for Our World Our Say

PS: Please forward this email to three friends - we must get MPs' attention
http://www.owos.info/how_you_can_help/email_a_friend.php

Now is the time to get the message across to your MP that only a Full and
Independent Inquiry will do.


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--
My letter to Martin O'Neill
As Parliament is to debate the Hutton Report tomorrow, I felt that it was
appropriate for me to add my voice to those who have called for a full and
independent inquiry into the decision to go to war.

I am deeply unhappy that Hutton appeared to be limited in his remit and
conclusions, and by the appearance of bias against the BBC. I am disturbed
that this judicial inquiry seems to have been a successful attempt to divert
blame from the government onto a scapegoat, that albeit culpable in some
reporting, should not bear the full blame. In all of this the real issue
seems to have been lost. The dubious and selective use of intelligence
behind the dodgy dossier, and the associated proaganda for war, are shameful
episodes for a government that promised so much, and which has been such a
disappointment. I for one (as a lifelong Labour voter) will find it
difficult to vote for Labour again, and I know many others who feel
similarly.

The announcement of a new inquiry seems to offer some hope of redemption for
the government, but already I feel that the point of the exercise is simply
to shift blame, this time onto the intelligence services. The real focus of
this inquiry should be on the political mechanisms and decisions that led to
war, in the face of what was well known at the time to be dubious
intelligence about weapons of mass destruction. There was ample evidence
around last year to suggest that Iraq had already destroyed its stocks, but
this was comprehensively rubbished at the time by the government and its
allies in the media; where now is the contrition and the acknowledgment that
the likes of Scott Ritter and Glen Rangwala were right.

Instead we have an inquiry that is restricted in focus, and which has the
potential to serve as a whitewash. Please use your voice in tomorrow's
debate to challenge this, calling instead for a full and independent inquiry
that examines all aspects of this issue (including the role played by
Downing Street), and not just the provenance of intelligence material and
reliability of the judgements made about it by MI6 etc.