'The West is not the real danger'

[Teddy Bear]

Michael Gove, the Conservative MP for Surrey Heath makes the following observations on the BBC in today's Times

The West is not the real danger

I can hardly believe that the BBC invited the Syrian Ambassador on to Newsnight on Monday as a detached observer to discuss Iraq’s prospects. But then, when was the last time that the BBC gave viewers a chance to learn more about Baathist Syria’s subversion of democracy in Iraq, or Lebanon, through its strategic alliance with Iran and support for terrorist groups? I could also hardly believe that the BBC broadcast a special report that morning maintaining that the biggest threat to Israel was internal corruption. It’s a big issue, certainly, but how big a problem is corruption in Israel compared with, say, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia or Iran? And when was the last time you had the opportunity to hear about the problems with their internal political cultures on the BBC?

Talking of threats, I was astounded that on the Ten O’Clock News on Monday Jeremy Bowen ended a package on Iraq’s security situation by explaining that the Iraq War was the engine of extremism in Saudi Arabia, and that the next big problem in the region was US intentions towards Iran. Again, when was the last time that the BBC properly explained how the Saudis have been funding extremism for decades, or pointed out that the real danger is not the West taking action to restrain Iran but Iran’s Holocaust-denying, terrorism-sponsoring President getting his hands on nuclear missiles?

Question time

One final question: the Democrat Senator Joe Lieberman recently argued that “there is something profoundly wrong when opposition to the war in Iraq seems to inspire greater passion than opposition to Islamist extremism”. When will he be invited on to the Today programme to develop that point?