The BBC backs down:
Tony Blair stuck to his guns, and here's the payoff:
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In his summary, Lord Hutton said the media's right to communicate information of public interest was subject to it not making false accusations of fact impugning the integrity of others including politicians, Mr Blair told MPs.

Mr Blair said: "That is how this began: with an accusation that was false then and is false now." He said: "We can have the debate about the war, about WMD, about intelligence. But we do not need to conduct it by accusations of lies and deceit. We can respect each other's motives and integrity even when in disagreement."

The prime minister added: "Let me repeat the words of Lord Hutton: 'False accusations of fact impugning the integrity of others ... should not be made.' Let those that made them withdraw them."

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Yup, today belongs to tony, no doubt. The BBC has apologized in full, and they will have to reform the institution. andrew gilligan, i presume, is finished. This is the same person who was in baghdad claiming that the allies "were no where near baghdad" and that their insistance they were there was some sort of lie. we now know who lied.

andrew gilligan lied. the bbc backed him. they were both very wrong.

those who remember what happened this past year know that the bbc claimed that they were not budging on this issue at all. they were not comprimising in their accusations. all they have now is shame (that they should feel. who knows in reality what, if anything the beeb now thinks as a whole).