SAS,
AFAIK no one has assumed that. Mrs Hull says that she was told that by the MOD. Mr Bliar says, in so many words, that she wasn't. Given his track record, and as others have said, the quiet understated dignity of this lady, I know who I believe. On this side of the pond we have grown used to routine dissembling by him and his gang. That is not rhetoric or exaggeration, but how it is. That is our misfortune, and our responsibility. The problem is that all the formality and procedure of official inquiries designed to determine facts and avoid repetition fail if the authorities simply lie. Tucumseh, who is informed, provides us with the list of lies, many of which are current threads on this forum. Whatever our nationality, service or civilian, as aviators we know we live or die by determining truth rather than lies, wishful thinking or blind faith. Politicians don't, nor it would seem many senior officers. What you do about yours is your business, for our part there is a growing outrage amongst those serving and retired to restore the substance implied by the words "an officer and a gentleman".