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CNN Live At Daybreak
Tony Blair Blameless?
Aired January 28, 2004 - 06:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: It's the moment many Britons have been waiting for, and it is a critical time for Tony Blair, the prime minister of England. A report into the suicide of weapons advisor David Kelly will be presented to parliament in the next hour.
CNN European political editor Robin Oakley joins us now live from London.
Robin -- what are you expecting out of this report?
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, Carol, we know a bit more of what's in this report than we were expecting to at this stage. It's been kept under very tight security, but there was a leak last night, claimed by "The Sun" newspaper in London, a paper which has been favorable to the government's case for war against Iraq. And if the conclusions, as leaked to "The Sun," are typical of the report as a whole, then it's going to be quite good news for Tony Blair.
First of all, it says that -- according to the leaks to "The Sun" -- that Tony Blair was not guilty of any dishonorable or underhanded conduct in the outing of Dr. David Kelly in the events which led to his suicide.
Secondly, the leaks to "The Sun" suggest that Lord Hutton has found that it was perfectly proper for the Joint Intelligence Committee -- the committee which is the interface between the government and the intelligence community -- to accept the government's advice and insert things the government wanted in that dossier, so long as they were compatible with real intelligence.
Also, according to the leaks, the Ministry of Defense in outing Dr. David Kelly was not held to have had any covert strategy, but simply felt it would be unreasonable and wrong to withhold his name from the public.
All of that is then good news for Tony Blair in terms of clearing him of the misuse of intelligence and of callousness or carelessness over Dr. David Kelly. But the sheer weight of evidence given to this inquiry is still counting against Tony Blair with two-thirds of the British public believing that he did over-egg the case for war against Iraq -- Carol.
LIN: All right, thank you very much. Robin Oakley reporting live in London.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired January 28, 2004 - 06:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: It's the moment many Britons have been waiting for, and it is a critical time for Tony Blair, the prime minister of England. A report into the suicide of weapons advisor David Kelly will be presented to parliament in the next hour.
CNN European political editor Robin Oakley joins us now live from London.
Robin -- what are you expecting out of this report?
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, Carol, we know a bit more of what's in this report than we were expecting to at this stage. It's been kept under very tight security, but there was a leak last night, claimed by "The Sun" newspaper in London, a paper which has been favorable to the government's case for war against Iraq. And if the conclusions, as leaked to "The Sun," are typical of the report as a whole, then it's going to be quite good news for Tony Blair.
First of all, it says that -- according to the leaks to "The Sun" -- that Tony Blair was not guilty of any dishonorable or underhanded conduct in the outing of Dr. David Kelly in the events which led to his suicide.
Secondly, the leaks to "The Sun" suggest that Lord Hutton has found that it was perfectly proper for the Joint Intelligence Committee -- the committee which is the interface between the government and the intelligence community -- to accept the government's advice and insert things the government wanted in that dossier, so long as they were compatible with real intelligence.
Also, according to the leaks, the Ministry of Defense in outing Dr. David Kelly was not held to have had any covert strategy, but simply felt it would be unreasonable and wrong to withhold his name from the public.
All of that is then good news for Tony Blair in terms of clearing him of the misuse of intelligence and of callousness or carelessness over Dr. David Kelly. But the sheer weight of evidence given to this inquiry is still counting against Tony Blair with two-thirds of the British public believing that he did over-egg the case for war against Iraq -- Carol.
LIN: All right, thank you very much. Robin Oakley reporting live in London.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
