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Kelly did say Iraq`s 45 minute claim was `wrong`, says Gilligan

IRNA

London, Sept 17, IRNA -- BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan Wednesday 
admitted making mistakes in his choice of words but insisted that the 
gist of his controversial report that the government exaggerated 
Iraq`s threat in its arms dossier was correct. 
David Kelly did tell him the statement that weapons of mass 
destruction were ready for use by Iraq within 45 minutes was 
`unreliable, that it was wrong and that it was included against our 
wishes`, he told the inquiry into the arms inspector`s death. 
Gilligan, whose report led to an unprecedented public row between 
the government and the BBC, was answering questions for the second 
time after being recalled for cross-examination. 
One of the mistakes he admitted to was a `kind of a slip of the 
tongue` in suggesting that the government was dishonest and knew the 
intelligence was wrong or unreliable. 
"The error I made here was in expressing the understanding I had 
that the views had been conveyed to the government as something which 
Dr. Kelly had told me directly," the BBC journalist said. 
He suggested that it was `not intentional` but was an 
`occupational hazard` due to doing a live broadcast instead of a 
scripted one. His accusation was more that the government was involved
in spinning rather than lying. 
Kelly clearly stated the transformation of the dossier was the 
responsibility of the Prime Minister`s Communications Director 
Alastair Campbell, who resigned from his post last month, Gilligan 
said. 
He also said that he agreed with the former Iraq arms inspector to
describe him as `one of the senior officials in charge of drawing up 
the dossier`. 
"Dr. Kelly was not a man into whose mouth you can put words," the 
reporter said, adding that former arms inspector, who worked as a 
Defense Ministry advisor, was well used to dealing with journalists 
and would have said `no` if he did not want a form of words to be 
used. 
But he accepted that Kelly had never described himself as a member
of the intelligence services and admitted that it was an mistake to 
have described him as `my intelligence service source` during a live 
broadcast. 
It was the only time he described the arms inspector as that way 
in 19 broadcasts on the story and was `simply a slip of the tongue`, 
Gilligan said. 
Giving evidence to the inquiry on Monday, MI6 chief Richard 
Dearlove revealed that Kelly had contacts with his intelligence agency
`from time to time`. 
During his cross-examination, Gilligan apologized for sending an 
e-mail to a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee that disclosed 
Kelly as the source of similar allegations made by his BBC colleague 
Susan Watts. 
The e-mail, which was aimed to elicit questions about Kelly while 
he was giving evidence to the committee, is considered the most likely
misdemeanor that could lead to the journalist being dismissed by the 
BBC. 
"I was under an enormous amount of pressure at the time, I simply 
was not thinking straight so I really want to apologize for that," 
Gilligan told the inquiry. 
The inquiry, which is due to complete oral evidence next week, is 
looking at the circumstances that led to Kelly`s assumed suicide 10 
days after he was exposed as the suspected government mole behind the 
BBC reports. 
HC/AH/210 
End