A Sad Day

Yesterday was one of the saddest days in politics that I can remember. The findings of the UK's Hutton report into the death of David Kelly, the reactions to it and the inevitable repercussions show just how far the governments of Britain, Australia and the USA have sunk.

Consider the rampant hypocrisy shown by Tony Blair. He demands that anyone who ever criticized his decision to go to war in Iraq must now apologize, yet he still refuses to apologize for leading his country to war on false pretences.

Australia's pathetic excuse for a Prime Minister, John Howard, is now demanding that all HIS critics should also apologize. Why?

The Hutton enquiry was set up to examine the suicide of David Kelly. While it clearly shows that Lord Hutton, a retired judge who gave the government the benefit of the doubt at every opportunity, was a firm believer in the government's justifications for war, it does not - and was not set up to - determine whether or not the reasons for invading Iraq were justified. As Hutton himself says, that matter "is not one which falls within my terms of reference".

Sadly, the BBC, almost certainly the best quality and most independent new organisation in the world, is now under renewed attack by government and corporate critics who take exception to being told the truth. It's the perfect excuse for Blair's government to further cut back funding. Rupert Murdoch must be rubbing his hands in delight.

And sadly, as the Liberal Democrats leader Charles Kennedy says, "We are still no closer to determining whether this country went to war on a false prospectus."

Or perhaps we are? On the same day that Blair was receiving his "unreserved apology" from the BBC, former US weapons inspector David Kay was telling US politicians "We were all wrong" about Saddam's WMDs. It's no wonder the Bush White House is staying strangely quiet about Blair's so-called vindication.