More on Operation Leaf

The public report is available from both Stuff and Scoop. The editor of the Sunday Star-Times accepts the report's conclusion but refuses to apologize as Helen Clark had demanded on the grounds that they acted in good faith. The only error that she admits to is that the Paper should have been less emphatic that the Story was true. The question that arises in my mind is why she didn't adopt this position once she found out that Nicky Hagar was involved with the story.

Speaking of which:

An investigative journalist involved in the story today said he was under strict instructions not to comment on the matter.

"I'm not allowed to talk on that, sorry," Nicky Hager told NZPA, when asked for a comment on the report.

Nicky is at best a freelancer and there's nobody in the world who could issue him strict instructions. Hence it's apparent he is severely embarrassed at being made to look a fool.

Lastly one of the three sources has issued a statement. It's self-serving drivel about himself to the extent that he claims to have been a CIA agent on the grounds that he was a "liason person" (ie somebody he had a drink with from time to time) to a US embassy official. Yet in all his rambling, he forgets to provide any information to show that the report was a whitewash.