Witch Hunts And PR Blunders In The UK

Share this

"In England, they shot the messenger," the Los Angeles Times' Robert Scheer writes, referring to the apparent suicide of British biological weapons expert David Kelly. The scientist, who worked for the British Ministry of Defense, found himself at the center of a battle between the British government and the BBC over a BBC report that the government "sexed up" a September 2002 intelligence dossier on Iraq's weapons. "Kelly's death and the unraveling justifications for war have created a governmental crisis and prompted calls for Blair to resign," Scheer writes. "Instead of admitting this now-obvious fact, the Blair government unleashed a witch hunt against the BBC and anyone in the Blair administration who might have been a source for the news agency's reporting." Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that the British Secretary of Defense stumbled into a PR blunder. "Geoff Hoon's decision to attend the British grand prix following the death of David Kelly was a public relations gaffe on a par with John Gummer feeding his daughter a beefburger at the height of the BSE crisis," the Guardian writes.