Bush Needs to Stop Gamesmanship on Probes:Marie Cocco

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Bush Needs to Stop Gamesmanship on Probes

February 3, 2004

http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpcoc033653618feb03,0,836935.column?coll=ny-viewpoints-headlines



Gavyn Davies for president.

Alas, he does not appear on any ballot. The former chief of the BBC hasn't the barest qualification, that of being born a United States citizen. He merely possesses a presidential quality lacking in our homegrown occupant of the White House: the honor and integrity to accept responsibility for abject failure.

Davies resigned as BBC chairman after an inquiry into the British news organization's reporting on Tony Blair's flawed dossier about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. The investigation by Lord Hutton effectively absolved the Blair government of inflating intelligence. It blamed the BBC for erroneous reporting.

Davies resigned immediately. He said the head of an organization that depends on public trust must take "personal responsibility for ensuring the highest standards of accuracy and impartiality." He suggested, as have others, that not all aspects of the Hutton report were fair or balanced.

Nonetheless, Davies was compelled to say what men of honor say in these trying situations. "I have been brought up to believe that you cannot choose your own referee and that the referee's decision is final."

This is how a fallen media titan differs from the president of the United States. The president of the United States fully intends to choose his own referee. And his own playing field. And his own rules of engagement.