A special on the BBC's Panorama program tonight will contend that the CIA and M16 knew that there were no weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq, and yet leadership in Britain and America lied to the public to protect their interests in the Middle Eastern country.

The BBC is claiming that before the war in Iraq, Saddam Hussein's foreign minister Naji Sabri had a meeting with the CIA station chief in Paris at that time, Bill Murray. Sabri is reported to have said that Iraq had "virtually nothing" in terms of WMDs.

Here's where it gets really interesting: Sabri has since said in a statement that the Panorama story was "totally fabricated".

Panorama has also confirmed, however, that this is not the only source of information they are using to make their claims. Reportedly, three months before the war an MI6 officer had a meeting with Iraq's head of intelligence, Tahir Habbush al-Tikriti. He too confirmed that Saddam had no active WMD, and furthermore, the meeting with al-Tikriti took place before the British government published its highly questionable Iraqi weapons dossier in September 2002.

There is certainly a lot on the line with these findings. The BBC is not known for shoddy journalistic practices, and if it is shown that one of their main pieces of evidence was a fabrication, then they are no better than the governmental agencies they are trying to condemn.

If, however, the BBC is correct in their claims, two of the Western world's greatest powers are now guilty of deceiving their people on one of the grandest scales imaginable. WMDs were the main impetus for the war in Iraq, and it has already been shown that none existed. If the government was aware of this, then we are still currently fighting a war based entirely on the lies of our elected leaders.

Furthermore, these findings could amount to a significant blow to an already reeling Republican party. It was Republican congress and White House who were most adamant about fighting a war in Iraq, and even to this day 63% of Republicans believe that there were WMDs in Iraq despite all evidence to the contrary. If the BBC can prove their claims, it could show just how out of touch Republicans have been for some time now. In the end, it will be the court of public opinion's to decide.