Massive evidence of weapons of mass destruction related programme activities

A rare treat to see Melanie "Wrong But With Conviction" Phillips give this old classic a spin on Question Time last night. It received its first outing way back in President Bush's first State of the Union address to Congress after the Iraq invasion. Just for a few seconds he appeared to have a huge revelation up his sleeve that was about to turn the media narrative completely on its head - "already the Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction..." Really? No, not really. Sadly for Bush, he hadn't finished his sentence, with the remaining words being "related programme activities". Which begged the obvious question - what exactly is a weapon of mass destruction related programme activity, and how precisely does it differ from an actual weapon?

How the Bush responded to the Olive Branch

Over at the Spectator's Coffee House blog, James Forsyth is rather excited about proof that Iran had privately acknowledged its responsibility for attacks on British soldiers in Iraq. The evidence comes in an interview given by the former Foreign Office political director Sir John Sawers for the excellent BBC2 series Iran and the West. This is certainly important information - although it doesn't really tell us anything we didn't already know. But it's utterly predictable that a Spectator journalist would pick up on that while completely ignoring the other extraordinary revelation in tonight's programme - that Iran had explicitly offered to take the necessary steps to normalise relations with America (including pretty dramatic things like the transformation of Hezbollah into a peaceful political party) but the US refused to even discuss it for ideological reasons.

What also became clear was the extent to which Iran had resolved to reach out a cautious hand of friendship following the 9/11 atrocities - an initiative to which George W Bush responded with the 'Axis of Evil' speech.