:00:04. > :00:10.Appalling and gratuitous violence - a devastating report on the death
:00:10. > :00:15.of an Iraqi civilian held by British troops in Iraq. 36 hours in
:00:15. > :00:24.British custody that left a family without a father. Baha Mousa had 93
:00:24. > :00:28.separate injuries. It is clearly a truly shocking and appalling
:00:28. > :00:31.incident. It should not have happened. It should never be
:00:31. > :00:34.allowed to happen again. Mousa and others were subjected to
:00:34. > :00:44.banned interrogation methods. The report calls it systemic failure.
:00:44. > :00:48.We hear from a soldier who was there. My personal views are,
:00:48. > :00:50.everybody that was there on that day initially has their own
:00:50. > :00:54.responsibility for his death. Whether you hit him or you did not,
:00:54. > :00:57.you still have your own responsibility for his death.
:00:57. > :01:00.We'll ask what lessons have been learned. $NEWLINE Also tonight:
:01:00. > :01:07.The biggest economies in the world in danger of stagnating - a new
:01:07. > :01:12.warning on growth from leading international economists. Another
:01:12. > :01:16.one just hit the building. Another one hit the World Trade.
:01:16. > :01:24.New audio tapes from 9/11 - first confusion, then the moment they
:01:24. > :01:28.knew it was a terror attack. commander has declared we can shoot
:01:28. > :01:32.down aircraft that do not respond to our direction. Copy?
:01:32. > :01:38.10 years on, New York is on high alert. Fears over what security
:01:38. > :01:44.officials found in Bin Laden's compound. We are worried about
:01:44. > :01:48.something happening on the anniversary of 9/11, because we saw
:01:48. > :01:51.that there was discussion about the ten-year anniversary, the ten-year
:01:51. > :02:01.memorial. Paralympic tickets - Britain aims
:02:01. > :02:01.
:02:01. > :02:11.for a sell-out competition. I will be here with Sportsday later
:02:11. > :02:25.
:02:25. > :02:29.in the hour, including the latest Good evening.
:02:29. > :02:31.The inquiry into the death of Iraqi civilian Baha Moussa while in the
:02:31. > :02:36.custody of the British army has reached the devastating conclusion
:02:36. > :02:39.that he was subjected to "appalling, gratuitous violence". The inquiry's
:02:39. > :02:42.chairman, Sir William Gage, said the death eight years ago pointed
:02:43. > :02:46.to "systemic failure" at the Ministry of Defence - it failed to
:02:47. > :02:50.give clear guidelines about the treatment of prisoners. The Prime
:02:50. > :02:54.Minister described the episode as "truly shocking". In a moment,
:02:54. > :03:04.we'll look at the lessons learned. Our first report from Caroline
:03:04. > :03:05.
:03:05. > :03:09.Hawley contains distressing images. Her father of two, 26-year-old Baha
:03:09. > :03:14.Mousa had 93 separate injuries when he was battered to death in British
:03:14. > :03:19.custody. -- A father of two. This video was filmed the day before he
:03:19. > :03:22.was killed. It was an army major who instructed the soldiers
:03:22. > :03:28.guarding the detainees to use hoods and stress positions which had been
:03:28. > :03:31.banned by the British Government back in 1972. The footage shows
:03:31. > :03:37.corporal Donald Payne shouting obscenities at the Iraqis, among
:03:37. > :03:42.them Baha Mousa. Acts of shocking brutality were to come. My judgment
:03:42. > :03:46.is that they constituted an appalling episode of serious
:03:46. > :03:51.gratuitous violence on civilians, which resulted in the death of one
:03:51. > :03:57.man and injuries to others. They represented a very serious breach
:03:57. > :04:01.of discipline. These pictures show the wounds of surviving detainees.
:04:02. > :04:06.One was left with acute kidney failure. The inquiry found it was a
:04:06. > :04:10.violent assault but triggered Baha Mousa's death, but that he had been
:04:10. > :04:15.made physically vulnerable by hooding in extreme heat and the
:04:15. > :04:18.stress positions. The report blamed their use on a corporate failure at
:04:18. > :04:22.the Ministry of Defence. It said stress positions and hooding were
:04:22. > :04:26.wholly unacceptable in any circumstances. It also found that
:04:26. > :04:32.many soldiers had assaulted the Iraqis. Even more had failed to
:04:32. > :04:35.intervene. There had been, it said, a lack of moral courage. It is
:04:35. > :04:39.clearly a truly shocking and appalling incident. It should not
:04:39. > :04:43.have happened. It should never be allowed to happen again. And the
:04:43. > :04:46.British Army, as it does, should uphold the highest standards.
:04:46. > :04:50.inquiry found that Major Michael people's knew that detainees had
:04:50. > :04:53.been assaulted. He is accused of unacceptable failure. It is said
:04:53. > :04:57.that if Lieutenant Craig Rodgers had acted when he first knew what
:04:57. > :05:01.was happening, Baha Mousa would almost certainly have survived. It
:05:01. > :05:06.found that the decorated commander of the Regiment, Colonel Jorge
:05:06. > :05:10.Mendonca, ought to have known what was going on. And that corporal
:05:10. > :05:14.pain was a violent bully who tried to cover up what he had done. --
:05:14. > :05:18.corporal Donald Payne. No doubt they are reading the report right
:05:18. > :05:22.now and they will be considering the war crimes of torture, inhumane
:05:22. > :05:27.treatment and submitting people to grossly humiliating behaviour.
:05:27. > :05:33.There are a number of people who have every reason to be very, very
:05:33. > :05:41.worried. Back in the Middle East, a family still grieving. Baha Mousa's
:05:41. > :05:51.father had to identify his son's battered body. In my heart, I love
:05:51. > :05:51.
:05:51. > :05:55.Baha. Baha Mousa's children are now orphans. Today, the former soldier
:05:55. > :06:00.who tried to resuscitate their father expressed his remorse.
:06:00. > :06:06.will never probably be a night that goes by when he is never on my mind.
:06:06. > :06:11.Granted, I have to live with that for the rest of my life. But so has
:06:11. > :06:15.his family. The Baha Mousa is buried in Najaf, Iraq's holiest
:06:15. > :06:19.city. Today's report into his death is a big step towards
:06:19. > :06:23.accountability but the scandal over what happened to him has not yet
:06:23. > :06:27.been laid to rest. The inquiry's chairman said what
:06:27. > :06:30.happened to Baha Mousa had left a great stain on the reputation of
:06:30. > :06:38.the army. We've asked Caroline Wyatt to look at what lessons have
:06:38. > :06:44.been learned in the past eight years.
:06:44. > :06:47.Basra, September 2003. An increasingly hot and hostile place
:06:47. > :06:51.for British troops battling to control the growing insurgency,
:06:52. > :06:55.with soldiers being killed and maimed. But the army and the
:06:55. > :06:59.Government today made clear that none of that excused the brutality
:06:59. > :07:04.laid bare in this inquiry, nor the corporate failing by the MoD to
:07:04. > :07:10.make clear to soldiers what they could and could not do to detainees.
:07:10. > :07:14.Baha Mousa was not a casualty of war. His death occurred as a
:07:14. > :07:19.detainees in British custody. It was avoidable and preventable, and
:07:19. > :07:23.there can be no excuses. While acknowledging that British troops
:07:23. > :07:26.in Basra faced stark challenges, the head of the army, too, so they
:07:26. > :07:31.could be no excuse for the loss of discipline and the lack of moral
:07:31. > :07:35.courage that occurred. -- he said there could be no excuse. It is
:07:36. > :07:40.clear from the inquiry report that we were ill-prepared in 2003 for
:07:40. > :07:45.the task of handling civilian detainees. The army has made
:07:45. > :07:50.strenuous efforts since then to transform the way we train for and
:07:50. > :07:55.conduct detention operations. have to treat everyone you catch a
:07:55. > :07:59.humanely. No exceptions, no IFS, no buts. It amongst the
:07:59. > :08:04.recommendations were an update to this training video for British
:08:04. > :08:07.soldiers on prisoner handling. It came out in 2005 in the wake of
:08:07. > :08:11.Baha Mousa's death. The inquiry also said the MoD must keep in
:08:11. > :08:15.place the ban on hooding and improve training in prisoner
:08:15. > :08:19.handling and interrogation. It also wants to ensure more rapid medical
:08:19. > :08:23.attention for detainees, and the possible civilian inspection of
:08:23. > :08:27.British military prisons abroad. The army insist many of those
:08:27. > :08:30.improvements have already been made. They knew this was going to be a
:08:30. > :08:33.critical report and if you know you are going to be criticised, you
:08:33. > :08:38.review your procedures so that you can say, we do things to from the
:08:38. > :08:41.now. And they do. We will see in due course whether the military
:08:41. > :08:51.really have reformed their system, but I suspect they have and I
:08:51. > :08:54.believe they have. British troops may have lowered the flag over
:08:54. > :08:58.Basra in 2009, but it still casts a long shadow. Today, the army made
:08:58. > :09:03.clear that those named in the report who are still serving have
:09:03. > :09:09.now been suspended. They could face disciplinary action, a fresh court
:09:09. > :09:12.martial, or perhaps even prosecution in a civilian court.
:09:12. > :09:15.The outlook for the world's leading economies is looking even more
:09:15. > :09:18.gloomy and a return to recession cannot be ruled out. That's
:09:18. > :09:20.according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
:09:20. > :09:26.Development which said some G7 economies are in danger of
:09:26. > :09:36.stagnating. It predicts growth in the UK of less than 1% this year.
:09:36. > :09:40.Stephanie Flanders reports. The closer you examine the world
:09:40. > :09:45.economy, the worse it is starting to look. Today, the OECD added to
:09:45. > :09:48.the gloom with a report that talked of the recovery coming to a halt,
:09:48. > :09:55.of World Trade stagnating, and the risk that unemployment will become
:09:55. > :09:58.entrenched. Time for a Plan B? You might think so. The OECD said
:09:58. > :10:05.countries with credible budget policies can and should respond to
:10:05. > :10:08.the slowdown, but apparently that does not mean the UK. There is now
:10:08. > :10:12.an interaction both on the manufacturing side and a degree of
:10:12. > :10:16.confidence which affects growth negatively and may continue for the
:10:16. > :10:21.next few months. But this does not mean that the efforts of the
:10:21. > :10:26.Government should be changed. Chancellor today met with vice
:10:26. > :10:31.premier of China, which is growing a lot faster than everyone else. --
:10:31. > :10:35.the vice-premier. In the G7, only Italy has a weaker forecast than
:10:35. > :10:39.Britain over the first half of 2011, but he says that is not due to
:10:39. > :10:42.budget cuts. Countries that pursued frankly completely different
:10:42. > :10:46.policies two hours over the last year - the US had a huge fiscal
:10:46. > :10:51.stimulus - they have not seen markedly more growth than we have
:10:51. > :10:55.in the UK. George Osborne's Decisions a year ago choked off our
:10:55. > :11:00.recovery in Britain even before this latest crisis in the eurozone
:11:00. > :11:05.and in America, which means we are very, very badly exposed indeed now.
:11:05. > :11:08.The economy is flat lining, unemployment is rising. The case
:11:08. > :11:12.for a Global Plan B and a change of course in Britain is growing by the
:11:12. > :11:16.day. The Bank of England today decided not to change policy, and
:11:16. > :11:20.we had the same thing from the European Central Bank in the
:11:20. > :11:24.eurozone. If the news continues to be this gloomy, we may see them
:11:24. > :11:28.give even more emergency support to their economies, but it has been
:11:28. > :11:31.three years since the height of the financial crisis and the collapse
:11:31. > :11:36.of Lehman Brothers. Even the central bankers are starting to
:11:36. > :11:39.worry whether they are running out of ammunition. The head of the ECB
:11:39. > :11:45.was downbeat about European recovery today, and rather
:11:45. > :11:53.defensive about the central bank's handling of the crisis. We are in
:11:53. > :11:58.the worst crisis since World War II. We do our job. It is not an easy
:11:58. > :12:02.job. The job is no easier in the US, where the head of the central bank
:12:02. > :12:07.tonight hinted that he was exploring new tools to help the
:12:07. > :12:12.economy, hours before the President unveiled his plan for jobs. There
:12:12. > :12:18.is no shortage of bad news about the world economy. Solutions are in
:12:18. > :12:22.short supply. Well, that speech by President
:12:22. > :12:25.Obama will be happening in just under two hours time. He will use
:12:25. > :12:29.it to announce a $300 billion spending package aimed at creating
:12:29. > :12:34.new jobs. The address, before a joint session of the US Congress,
:12:34. > :12:38.is seen as crucial to his chances of rebuilding the economy and
:12:38. > :12:43.winning a second term. Mark Mardell reports.
:12:43. > :12:46.He promised hope and change. What he has delivered provokes pessimism.
:12:46. > :12:49.14 million Americans are out of work, the economy seems to be
:12:49. > :12:54.stalled, and the President needs to come up with some solutions. His
:12:54. > :12:58.poll ratings are at an all-time low and still sinking. One this week
:12:58. > :13:03.suggested 53% of Americans disapprove of the job he is doing,
:13:03. > :13:08.and 62% disapprove of his handling of the economy. 82% think the
:13:08. > :13:12.country is in recession. At the Reagan Library, Republican
:13:12. > :13:17.presidential hopefuls debate, agreeing that Obama does not have
:13:17. > :13:21.the answers. America is in crisis. This President has to go. He is a
:13:21. > :13:24.nice guy but he does not have a clue how to get the country working.
:13:24. > :13:28.The challenge is to prove that wrong. The President's main
:13:28. > :13:31.domestic policy adviser told me this is an important night. People
:13:31. > :13:36.are sitting around their kitchen tables wondering how to make ends
:13:36. > :13:40.meet, how to send kids to college. This will be an issue on the minds
:13:40. > :13:43.of Americans for months and years to come, but the President's burkas
:13:43. > :13:49.is making sure today that we are doing everything we can to make
:13:49. > :13:52.sure Americans are working. -- his focus. How places like Richmond,
:13:52. > :13:56.Virginia, greet the plan could be vital for the President. This was
:13:56. > :14:01.one of the states that helped Obama to win, he took it from the
:14:01. > :14:05.Democrats for the first time in 44 years. But it is uncertain he will
:14:05. > :14:08.be able to repeat the trick unless the economy improves. Geoff voted
:14:08. > :14:11.for Obama last time and his electrical business is doing well,
:14:11. > :14:16.but he wants the President to do more to create jobs and things he
:14:16. > :14:20.has not proved he deserves a second term. If you do not get Excellence
:14:20. > :14:26.by compromise. I want to see a president that is willing to spend
:14:26. > :14:32.on what he was elected for, without compromise. And to push that agenda
:14:32. > :14:36.forward with sincere tenacity,... With my company, if you are not
:14:36. > :14:41.getting the job done, you're not there any more. Barry lost his job
:14:41. > :14:44.designing bathrooms and kitchens 18 months ago. He, too, voted for
:14:44. > :14:49.Obama and once the president to pull a rabbit out of the hat. But
:14:49. > :14:54.he worries that the Republican House will block any plan. All that
:14:54. > :14:58.I have seen is a buck -- a bunch of adults acting like children.
:14:58. > :15:01.Sometimes I am truly proud to be an American. Sometimes I am just
:15:01. > :15:06.embarrassed. What has been happening in Congress just
:15:06. > :15:14.embarrasses me. No one doubts that the President can deliver a good
:15:14. > :15:17.Coming up on tonight's programme: We travel to eastern Russia and
:15:17. > :15:27.meet the man Britain blames for the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in
:15:27. > :15:29.
:15:29. > :15:32.Audio tapes released by the US authorities give a new and dramatic
:15:32. > :15:37.insight into how officials reacted to the 9/11 attacks on New York and
:15:37. > :15:39.Washington. The tapes, many of which have not been heard before,
:15:39. > :15:45.show how confused and horrified pilots and air traffic controllers
:15:45. > :15:55.were as they struggled to work out what was happening. This weekend
:15:55. > :15:57.
:15:57. > :16:01.marks ten years since the attacks A September 11th, at 8.13 in the
:16:01. > :16:06.morning air traffic controllers lose contact with American Airlines
:16:06. > :16:13.flight 11. Then a telephone call from the plane itself. It is Betty
:16:13. > :16:17.Ong, an attendant. Somebody has been stabbed in business-class. We
:16:17. > :16:23.can't breathe. I think we're getting hijacked. Shortly
:16:23. > :16:30.afterwards, this. Nobody move, everything is OK. If you try to
:16:30. > :16:36.make a move, the airplane is in danger. The voice of Mohammad after,
:16:36. > :16:42.now at the plane's controls. -- Mohamed Atta. We have a problem, we
:16:42. > :16:46.have a hijacked aircraft heading towards New York. We need someone
:16:46. > :16:52.to scramble some F-16s to help us out. Is this real world or
:16:52. > :16:56.exercise? This is not an exercise. Then -- the head of National Air
:16:56. > :17:00.Traffic Control was on his first day in the job. I found myself
:17:00. > :17:05.standing in the middle of that floor, mostly trying to comprehend
:17:05. > :17:10.what the heck was going on. events unfold, in the control
:17:10. > :17:17.towers, bafflement and disbelief. If you look out of your window
:17:17. > :17:26.right now, it looks like he is... That is another situation. Another
:17:26. > :17:31.one has hit the building. The whole building came apart. At 10:30am,
:17:31. > :17:35.orders go out to shoot down hijacked aircraft. The commander
:17:35. > :17:43.has declared we can shoot down aircraft that do not respond to
:17:43. > :17:46.last. Copy that? But there were none left to shoot down.
:17:46. > :17:48.The New York City police commissioner has told the BBC of
:17:48. > :17:52.his concerns that al-Qaeda could attempt another attack to mark this
:17:52. > :17:54.weekend's tenth anniversary of 9/11. He said his fears are based on
:17:55. > :17:58.intelligence seized during the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound
:17:58. > :18:01.earlier this year. Our security correspondent Gordon Corera has
:18:01. > :18:11.spent time with the New York Police Department as it prepares a massive
:18:11. > :18:15.
:18:15. > :18:19.New York on alert. A city where the fear of attack, especially in the
:18:19. > :18:27.next few days, is high. We want to prevent another attack from
:18:27. > :18:32.happening here. We are not afraid to be visible about that. This is
:18:32. > :18:37.assertive policing, in-your-face like New York itself. We watch as
:18:37. > :18:42.patrol cars from every precinct gather at Times Square. With a
:18:43. > :18:48.signal, they pull out. Three times a day, dozens of police cars surge
:18:48. > :18:53.across the city to key locations. It is a show of force designed to
:18:53. > :18:58.deter any terrorists thinking of attacking the city. We have been
:18:58. > :19:08.given rare access to the counter- terrorism work of New York police.
:19:08. > :19:08.
:19:08. > :19:14.On the ground, Underground, on the Out on helicopter patrol, the
:19:14. > :19:18.challenges in protecting a city of 8 million are clear. That is the
:19:18. > :19:23.George Washington Bridge, Very Very famous, very, very critical. It is
:19:23. > :19:32.always a potential target. Beneath us lies the still visible scars of
:19:32. > :19:39.10 years ago, another police helicopter witnessed the attacks.
:19:39. > :19:45.The whole tower! It has led to a fierce determination not to allow
:19:45. > :19:49.terrorists to slip through the net again. We want people to know...
:19:49. > :19:54.his command centre, with screens showing live surveillance images,
:19:54. > :19:58.New York's police commissioner explains that intelligence from
:19:58. > :20:02.Osama Bin Laden's death has heightened concerns. We are worried
:20:02. > :20:06.specifically about something happening on the anniversary of
:20:06. > :20:14.9/11 because we saw some of Bin Laden's materials where there was
:20:14. > :20:19.discussion about the ten-year anniversary. Heavily-armed officers
:20:19. > :20:23.carry out spot checks on the subway. Bags are swiped for explosive
:20:23. > :20:29.traces. Anyone seen avoiding a cheque is followed by an undercover
:20:29. > :20:34.officer. As well as the visible, there is the covert. This
:20:34. > :20:41.surveillance video shows an undercover FBI operation in which a
:20:41. > :20:44.group of men were caught trying to use a surface-to-air missile. But
:20:44. > :20:49.the widespread use of informants has led to accusations of spying on
:20:49. > :20:55.the Muslim community. They are criminalising and they are creating
:20:55. > :20:59.a sense of guilt for all Muslims in New York. Instead of building
:20:59. > :21:04.bridges after all the Islamophobia or that we have experienced over
:21:04. > :21:09.the last 10 years. Around Manhattan, boats patrol with heavily armed
:21:09. > :21:13.officers. For the authorities deny they are going too far. But 10
:21:13. > :21:17.years on, they also say they will do what it takes to keep the city
:21:18. > :21:21.safe. You can see more on that story on
:21:21. > :21:24.Newsnight at 10.30pm on BBC Two. American forces in Afghanistan have
:21:24. > :21:28.admitted that a BBC reporter who died when the Taliban stormed a
:21:28. > :21:33.building in July was shot dead by US troops in a case of mistaken
:21:33. > :21:36.identity. Omaid Khpulwak, who worked for the BBC's Pashto service,
:21:36. > :21:45.was killed while hiding in a bathroom after a soldier mistook
:21:45. > :21:48.him for a suicide bomber. He's left a wife and baby daughter. To travel
:21:48. > :21:52.to Russia on Sunday, it's emerged tonight that no British government
:21:52. > :21:55.minister or diplomat has spoken to Vladimir Putin since 2007.
:21:55. > :21:57.Relations went into sharp decline following the murder in London of
:21:57. > :22:03.Alexander Litvinenko, which investigators here blamed on a
:22:03. > :22:06.former KGB member who they want extradited. Daniel Sandford has
:22:06. > :22:16.been to Russia's far east, where the suspect, now a member of the
:22:16. > :22:17.
:22:17. > :22:22.country's parliament, continues to He remains one of Britain's most
:22:22. > :22:27.wanted men. Andrei Lugovoi, a former KGB officer, is accused of a
:22:27. > :22:31.shocking murder in a luxury London hotel. But he agreed to let us join
:22:31. > :22:36.him for two days in the Russian will do this. Even urging Britain
:22:36. > :22:41.to get over the crisis the killing caused. TRANSLATION: Are we going
:22:41. > :22:44.to fight about it for the next 100 years? We should be looking for a
:22:44. > :22:51.way out and the ball is not in the Russian court, it is in the English
:22:51. > :22:57.court. While he can visit the Kamchatka peninsular, 5,000 miles
:22:57. > :23:01.from Moscow, he has not left Russia since 2006. If he does he will be
:23:01. > :23:04.detained on an international arrest warrant. For almost five years,
:23:04. > :23:08.Andrei Lugovoi has been the source of huge diplomatic friction.
:23:08. > :23:13.Britain wants to put him on trial for murder and Russia won't give
:23:13. > :23:20.him up. Alexander Litvinenko, the man he is accused of killing, died
:23:20. > :23:25.as slow and painful death, poisoned by polonium-2 10, which is lethally
:23:25. > :23:29.radioactive. He had also been a KGB officer, but had recently become a
:23:29. > :23:37.British citizen. Andrei Lugovoi was the key suspect, having left a
:23:37. > :23:41.trail of polonium across Europe. But he has always denied the murder.
:23:41. > :23:46.Russian British relations went into the deep freeze, the pro-Kremlin
:23:46. > :23:49.youth group Nashi targeted the British ambassador. Two foreign
:23:49. > :23:54.ministers were not talking to each other, Number Ten was not in touch
:23:54. > :23:58.with the Kremlin, I was being hounded around Moscow by Nashi, the
:23:58. > :24:01.British Council had it in effect been thrown out. The powerful
:24:01. > :24:06.Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin has still had no substantive
:24:06. > :24:11.discussions with any British minister since 2007. Andrei Lugovoi
:24:11. > :24:14.is now a member of the Russian parliament. The chances of him
:24:14. > :24:20.being tried in Britain seem more remote than ever, though he made
:24:20. > :24:24.one suggestion to break the deadlock. TRANSLATION: In the
:24:24. > :24:28.famous Lockerbie case, Britain passed a special law allowing the
:24:28. > :24:33.terrorists to be tried in the Netherlands. Why don't we get a
:24:33. > :24:37.third country to conduct an independent investigation? With
:24:37. > :24:40.Lugovoi confident that he will never face trial, David Cameron is
:24:40. > :24:44.about to be the first British prime minister to visit Russia since the
:24:44. > :24:49.poisoning and he will meet Vladimir Putin. But the murder remains
:24:49. > :24:53.unpunished. The organisers of the 2012
:24:53. > :24:56.Paralympics have promised to make theirs the first sell-out games.
:24:56. > :24:59.Tickets will be available from midnight. Today, Paralympians
:24:59. > :25:09.gathered in Trafalgar Square to demonstrate their sporting prowess.
:25:09. > :25:10.
:25:10. > :25:18.Anyone for a quiet game of wheelchair rugby? Or how about
:25:18. > :25:22.sitting volleyball? Table tennis, or a near 17 other sports? Today
:25:22. > :25:26.you could watch them and tomorrow you can buy a ticket for them. The
:25:26. > :25:32.Paralympics are coming for town and for its most famous face, London is
:25:32. > :25:35.ready. The people are coming out and enjoying the sport. I have seen
:25:35. > :25:40.some people clenching their jaws watching the wheelchairs clash
:25:41. > :25:46.behind us. It is exciting. Excitement around the sport is what
:25:46. > :25:50.is needed. I am looking forward to it. So of these two, Boris Johnson
:25:50. > :25:54.and David Cameron and using the crowds with an enthusiastic display
:25:54. > :25:59.of their tennis skills. For London Paralympics has heavyweight support,
:25:59. > :26:04.but the big question is can they sell the tickets? At previous games
:26:04. > :26:09.they have given away thousands of them, but London insists they will
:26:09. > :26:12.sell every one. Prices are competitive. There are 2 million
:26:12. > :26:17.tickets for sale and they are cheaper than the Olympics, half
:26:17. > :26:24.will cost �10 or less. You can buy them online from 9am tomorrow for
:26:24. > :26:31.nearly three weeks. The Paralympics were born in Britain at the Stoke
:26:31. > :26:35.Mandeville Games in 1948. Organisers hope that traditional --
:26:35. > :26:38.tradition will translate into ticket. Our history in the
:26:38. > :26:42.Paralympic movement, the fact that many Paralympians are household
:26:42. > :26:45.names, the fact that more Paralympic sport you show young
:26:45. > :26:54.people, for more interest there is gives us a real head start.
:26:54. > :26:57.perhaps the best reason to watch the Paralympics will be this.
:26:57. > :27:02.Britton won 42 gold medals in Beijing, second only to have China
:27:02. > :27:05.and with home support, anything is possible. Being in Beijing and
:27:05. > :27:11.having the Chinese crowd cheering for you, even though you weren't