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Last Updated: Wednesday, 25 June, 2003, 16:58 GMT 17:58 UK
BBC response to Campbell claim
This is a statement released by the BBC in response to comments by Alastair Campbell during evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.

We do not feel the BBC has anything to apologise for. We regret that Alastair Campbell has chosen to accuse Andrew Gilligan and the BBC of lying.

We have always been clear in our reporting. Our source told us that he and others in the intelligence community were unhappy that real intelligence based on a single source, was given undue prominence in the dossier of September 2002. That the dossier was transformed.

Subsequently a number of other journalists have been similarly briefed.

This was in the context of hearing from others in the intelligence community of general disquiet about the government's presentation of intelligence.

We have reported statements from Downing Street on these matters, and various Ministers have been on our programmes to discuss the issues raised, but it's still not clear why the assertion that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction could be ready within 45 minutes was given the prominence that it was.



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