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10 days to war

• Peter Barron
• 5 Mar 08, 04:07 PM

Next week on Newsnight we're making our foray into drama with a series of films entitled . This may prove controversial, but we hope it will also open up the debate about the war in Iraq in new and revealing ways. The issue our viewers most often ask us to revisit is - by some distance - the decision to go to war in Iraq.

Over the next two weeks, to mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion, we will look back and examine again the circumstances of the run-up to war: the WMD claims, the question of legality, the diplomatic wrangles and so on.

The reason we've chosen drama is that now we can recreate the scenes the cameras couldn't capture at the time - inside the Foreign Office on the day the legal officer Elizabeth Wilmshurst resolved to resign, inside the UN as Britain and America cajoled for a second resolution, inside the House of Commons on the day of the vote to go to war, with the troops on the Iraqi border as Colonel Tim Collins delivered his rousing eve-of-battle speech.

The eight episodes, each of which focuses on the events and issues from the same day exactly five years ago, have been painstakingly researched by our team of journalists and woven into mini-dramas by the dramatist Ronan Bennett. They'll be played by an all-star cast including Kenneth Branagh, Juliet Stevenson and Tom Conti. (Watch the trailer here).

But is it Newsnight? Not quite. The 12-minute films will run each night in the 10.30pm slot just before Newsnight, and then on Newsnight proper we'll pick up the issues raised with some of the real players portrayed in the drama and other key figures involved at the time. I hope you'll enjoy the drama on , join the debate and let us know what you think.

Peter Barron is editor of Newsnight

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Alternative views

• Alistair Burnett
• 5 Mar 08, 03:27 PM

Over the past week, we have devoted quite a bit of coverage on the World Tonight to the escalation in the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians which has seen Palestinian missile and rocket attacks on southern Israel and Israeli air and ground attacks on Gaza which have left more than 120 Palestinians and three Israelis dead.

We have heard from Israelis and Palestinians who have blamed each other for the violence and lack of progress in peace talks. With the and with the violence continuing, we decided yesterday we needed to hear something different on this story.

In our editorial meetings, we often discuss our Middle East coverage and how we can shed new light on what can sound a very repetitive story given that politicians and officials on both sides are so entrenched in their positions and are often unwilling to budge from those positions in public - even if what happens behind closed doors can be different.

So yesterday, we decided to look for alternative views on both sides.

A recent poll in the Israeli newspaper, , suggested a majority of Israelis wanted their government to talk to Hamas to try to reach a ceasefire, something the Israeli government has ruled out unless the missile and rocket attacks stop first. Reporters on the ground in Gaza have also been saying that privately quite a few residents of Gaza are angry with Hamas, blaming them for provoking the escalation in Israeli attacks which have led to so many deaths.

We found two bloggers - one a Palestinian in Gaza and the other an Israeli in the south of the country - who met and now have a to keep in touch. The idea was to get that alternative view from the usual official one. They reflected on the mood and how difficult it is to advocate peace when the violence continues. It was on Wednesday's programme after 22.30 (and presenter Robin Lustig has blogged about it). Take a listen here and see you think we succeeded in airing an interesting alternative.

Alistair Burnett is editor of the World Tonight

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