As noted earlier, the BBC may have blown the cover on an international arms-trafficking "sting" operation. Now the Justice Dept. has given them an opening to counter-punch.
The BBC journalist who broke the news that a British man had been arrested for trying to sell a missile to terrorists is to sue an American magazine which claimed his scoop had ruined FBI plans to infiltrate al-Qa'ida.Posted by Alan at August 16, 2003 12:37 PMTom Mangold - a friend of David Kelly who spoke on behalf of the weapons inspector's family after his death - has instructed the law firm Mishcon de Reya to begin legal action against Newsweek.
The magazine claimed on Wednesday that officials in the US Justice Department believed the report had scuppered their plans to persuade the arms dealer to work for them.
Christopher Christie, the US attorney for New Jersey, said on American television that the report had not affected the outcome of the operation. "This investigation has gone on for 18 months and we executed the plan in almost exactly the way we laid it out," he said.
A BBC spokeswoman said: "Obviously ... for Christopher Christie ... to say the news media in Britain did not compromise the investigation gave Tom Mangold the confidence to go to Mishcon de Reya and ask them to start proceedings."
via The Independent (UK)