London, July 09: A serious dispute between the government and the British Broadcasting Corp grew more complex when a defence staffer said he had an unauthorized meeting with a BBC reporter whose story is the source of the argument. Just as it appeared likely the row would subside, at least publicly, the Ministry of Defence yesterday evening put forward the account of an anonymous official who might, possibly be the source of the disputed report.
The BBC then said he probably wasn`t the source, but suggested that if he were, he wouldn`t necessarily be telling the ministry the same thing he told the reporter. Prime Minister Tony Blair`s office at 10 Downing Street has repeatedly demanded an apology from the BBC for a report quoting a single anonymous intelligence source as saying a dossier on Iraq`s weapons of mass destruction had been "sexed up" on the orders of Blair aide Alastair Campbell. The threat of Iraqi weapons was Blair`s main argument for war against Iraq.
Campbell, Blair`s communications chief, denied the allegation and on Monday he was cleared by a parliamentary committee looking into decisions that led Britain into war.
The defence ministry`s statement yesterday said a department official had come forward to say he had met with Gilligan to discuss the government`s dossier on Iraqi weapons a week before the broadcast of Gilligan`s report quoting a source. The ministry said the unidentified official had not mentioned Campbell to the reporter in relation to the critical part of the dossier - a claim that Saddam Hussein could use weapons of mass destruction at 45 minutes` notice, the department statement said. But it also said, "We do not know whether this official is the single source quoted by Mr Gilligan." Bureau Report