Greg Palast has a very different take on the BBC scandal:

Yet Blair’s minions are proclaiming their vindication.

This is not just a story about what is happening “over there” in the United Kingdom. This we must remember: David Kelly was not only advisor to the British but to the UN and, by extension, the expert for George W. Bush. Our commander-in-chief leaped to adopt the Boogey Man WMD stories from the Blair government when our own CIA was reticent.

So M’Lord Hutton has killed the messenger: the BBC. Should the reporter Gilligan have used more cautious terms? Some criticism is fair. But the extraordinary import of his and Watts’ story is forgotten: our two governments bent the information then hunted down the questioners.

And now the second invasion of the Iraq war proceeds: the conquest of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Until now, this quasi-governmental outlet has refused to play Izvestia to any prime minister, Labour or Tory.

As of today, the independence of the most independent major network on this planet is under attack. Blair’s government is “cleared” and now arrogantly sport their kill, the head of Gavyn Davies, BBC’s chief, who resigned today.

“The bleak future for British journalism” portends darkness for journalists everywhere - the threat to the last great open platform for hard investigative reporting. And frankly, it’s a worrisome
day for me. I’m not a disinterested by-stander. My most important investigations, all but banned from US airwaves, were developed and broadcast by BBC Newsnight, reporter Watts’ program.

Will an iron curtain descend on the news? Before dawn today, I was reading Churchill’s words to the French command in the hours before as the Panzers breached the defenses of Paris. Churchill told those preparing to surrender, “Whatever you may do, we shall fight on forever and ever and ever.” This may yet be British journalism’s Finest Hour.