The Hutton report has its critics, apparently, though you wouldn't know it by the behavior of the BBC and Blair.

Gilligan [the reporter who made the original allegations against the Blair government], who has not been on the air since the inquiry began, did not comment directly, but the National Union of Journalists issued a statement on his behalf branding the Hutton report as "grossly one-sided and a serious threat to the future of investigative journalism."

"Whatever Lord Hutton may think, it is clear from the evidence he heard that the dossier was 'sexed up,' that many in the intelligence services were unhappy about it, and that Andrew Gilligan's story was substantially correct," said Jeremy Dear, the union's president.

In his resignation statement, Davies, the BBC chairman, questioned whether Hutton's "bald conclusions" could be reconciled with the evidence and whether they might damage press freedom in Britain. Still, he explained his resignation by saying, "I have been brought up to believe that you cannot choose your own referee, and that the referee's decision is final."

And then there's this, from Guardian readers' responses to the Hutton report:

Others also felt that Lord Hutton's remit was probably too limited to permit him to criticise the government. "I am not convinced that Hutton carried out a fair inquiry, but even if he did, his remit was so narrow that his report could not help but let Blair off the hook," said one. "It is patently obvious - that the document WAS 'sexed up,'" wrote Andrew Jardine.

"I hope the public reaction [to the report] will be one of enduring disbelief," wrote another reader. "For my part, I can see that the BBC has much to take itself to task about, but the government, too, has its share of responsibility to assume."

Let's hope we're not echoing this after the 9/11 commission report comes out...

[UPDATE: More here.

The Independent called Hutton's 740 page report "curiously unbalanced." The liberal London daily also published a column by Charles Kennedy , leader of the opposition Liberal Democratic party, declaring Hutton's report "should be the opening curtain and not the last word."

Even the editors of the conservative Daily Telegraph , who supported Blair and the war in Iraq, declared: "there are very serious issues that Lord Hutton decided not to explore."]