Dominic Ponsford writes:
Daily Mail columnist Peter Oborne says he has consulted a libel
lawyer in a public spat with Oliver Kamm of The Times.
Kamm
takes issue with Oborne’s decision to co-author a book with David Morrison
three years ago and tweeted about the matter this week.
Morrison has
previously disputed the scale of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in which thousands of Bosnian
Muslims were killed.
Kamm
this week tweeted a link to a piece he wrote for The Times three
years ago in which he said:
“Does he [Oborne] think the demonstrated fact of the worst atrocity in Europe
since 1945 is an obscure subject on which reasonable people differ?”
Oborne
has responded on Twitter saying:
“My friend David Morrison is a good and decent
man.
“He is not a ‘genocide denier’ and it is outrageous of Oliver Kamm to claim
that he is.
“What
happened at Srebrenica was terrible and should never be forgotten or taken
lightly.
“If Mr Morrison was a ‘Srebrenica denier’ as you have repeatedly
stated, no decent person should have anything to do with him.
“Since he
didn’t, I strongly urge you to desist.
“You
should know that I took your original comments so seriously that I went to a
famous libel QC.
“He read your blog and David’s articles…and told me that your
claims were unjustified and highly defamatory.
“Please stop making these false
accusations about a decent man.
“And
I strongly urge you to apologise to Mr Morrison for making a series of foul and
baseless allegations against him.
“That is all. Goodbye.”
Kamm
responded (also on Twitter) saying:
“Do you have any idea how absurd you
sound?
“I cordially suggest you cease bleating about your friend’s decency and
make him face historical facts.”
He
also said: “I’ve considered your suggestion fully and reject it.”
And he added:
“I’m highly unimpressed with your silly threats.” [Welcome to our world, Ollie. Welcome to our world.]
He
concluded by Tweeting a link to the website of lawyer Duncan Lamont saying: “My
reps are ready”.
Kamm seems to hate everybody.
ReplyDeleteOnly all the best people.
DeleteKamm has been laughing at Neil Clark's attempted lawsuit and boasting how he exposed him as a fraudster and got him thrown out of the mainstream media.
ReplyDeleteTo boast about getting another journalist blacklisted is disgraceful.
And not even true.
DeleteI don't see what would be so bad about denying the Srebrenica massacre, unless you were a Serb nationalist. We only think holocaust denial is bad because it's a blatant fraud used to promote Nazism - there's nothing inherently wrong with not believing in certain atrocities.
ReplyDeleteThe point is that Morrison doesn't.
DeleteI have never understood why anti-Semites would want to deny the Holocaust.
Because they know it discredits anti-semitism
DeleteMorrison questioned the scale of the massacre, not the fact of the massacre.
ReplyDeleteBut Oliver "the Iraq war was noble and farsighted" Kamm has no leg to stand on.