Saturday, January 29, 2005
BBC apologises for misinterpreting Iraqi death stats
LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The BBC apologised on Saturday for erroneously reporting that U.S.-led and Iraqi forces may be responsible for the deaths of 60 percent of Iraqi civilians killed in conflict over the last six months.
The British broadcaster said on Friday in broadcasts and a news statement that its Panorama investigative show would air a report on Sunday citing "confidential" records from Iraq's health ministry to support the contention.
Iraq's health minister said the BBC misinterpreted the statistics it had received and had ignored statements from the ministry clarifying the figures.
"Today, the Iraqi Ministry of Health has issued a statement clarifying matters that were the subject of several conversations with the BBC before the report was published, and denying that this conclusion can be drawn from the figures relating to 'military operations'," the BBC said in a news statement on Saturday.
"The BBC regrets mistakes in its published and broadcast reports yesterday."
A BBC spokesman said the statistics would not feature in the Panorama show on Sunday.
Once again, we see that the anti-American left around the world (Dan Rather, Al-Jazeera, etc.) is doing its darndest to make the US look bad. Once again, they have been caught in their own web of disgusting lies.
And remember that the British people pony up billions for this kind of crap. But don't fret, Americans: We pay for PBS to lie to us, and we have CNN and MSNBC to do it for free!
