In their coverage of the US assault on Fallujah, BBC television news surpassed even their previous levels of one-sided and misleading reporting. US military statements were treated with a deference that editors of the Lancet could only dream of, Abu Ghraib and fictional WMD's were forgotten as viewers were left to guess what "fixing the problem of Fallujah" might entail.

Flyers were given to BBC staff, visitors and passers-by alike reading as follows -

"BBC lies on Fallujah

"Iraq's prime minister, Iyad Allawi, has said he has given American and Iraqi forces the authority to clear Fallujah of terrorists."
8/11/04 - BBC announces an assault on Fallujah which will include dropping clusters of Phosphorus bombs on civilian areas. These bombs are designed to cause fires and create untreatable burns.

As shown by MediaLens, the BBC failed to note that Allawi is not a legitimate Iraqi leader but a puppet installed by the Americans after an illegal invasion. He has no authority whatsoever over US forces in Iraq, they are the authority. Their goal is not to rid Fallujah of terrorists but to crush Iraqi resistance to US control of their country.

The BBC lies to disarm British public opinion against the Iraq war to allow the Western killing for profit to continue.

Don't let the them get away with it."

Response to the protest was mainly positive from both staff and passers-by. We met Gilad Atzmon and his band on their way out, having just finished recording a radio session. They said they'd managed to comment on the situation in Palestine on the programme (don't know if was going out live.) They wished us well and gave us a copy of their new CD.

We were surprised by the hostility to BBC news coverage that emerged as we spoke to people in the street, so perhaps the time is near when their aura of respectability will be broken.