Gas attack report was not all ‘flawed’

Last week, The Mail on Sunday reported on a ruling by the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit: ‘BBC admits Syria gas attack report had serious flaws.’ As one of the programme makers, I feel I ought to clarify what this ruling does and does not show. While we certainly should have been more cautious about the strength of the evidence on the three points contested, the ruling is hardly a vindication of ‘Alex’, the former OPCW scientist. Or the journalists who rely on his credibility as a source. The BBC found ‘strongly suggestive’ evidence that ‘Alex’ seemed to believe the bizarre and ghoulish theory that the 2018 chlorine attack in Douma, which killed dozens of people including children, was staged. That’s partly because ‘Alex’ sometimes works with ‘journalists’ who use his evidence to support this absurd conspiracy theory.

The BBC also found evidence that ‘Alex’ sometimes ‘collaborated’ with those who broadly share the ‘Russian and Syrian state view of the war’ and that his motives have been questioned.

What the programme actually found no evidence for is ‘Alex’s’ central claim that his leaks demonstrate an extensive coverup at the OPCW. And we found a mountain of evidence to show that the attack in Douma really did take place.

Neither of these points were contested in Mr Hitchens’s complaint. Our programme The Canister On The Bed remains available on BBC Sounds – with only some very minor revisions. It’s a state of affairs you’d imagine might damage ‘Alex’s’ credentials, both as a serious scientist and as a source for any serious journalist.

Tom Wright, London