UK: The suicide of David Kelly (07.27.03)

Scientist David Kelly's apparent suicide rocked the UK government. Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged to cooperate fully with an inquiry into the apparent suicide of Kelly who was drawn into a vicious row over Britain's reasons for waging war on Iraq.

Blair's waning popularity has taken a further hit, and the government has come under enormous pressure in its battle with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which says the government hyped intelligence on Iraqi weapons to justify the invasion of Iraq. The prime minister said he would testify to judge Lord Hutton, who will investigate why weapons expert Kelly committed suicide. Hutton has indicated that the investigation may range beyond Kelly's death to wider aspects of the Iraq war.

Blair justified the "preventive" invasion by saying that Iraq had to be disarmed of banned weapons, but months after the occupation of Baghdad, no chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons have yet been found. Kelly's death has left Blair facing the worst political crisis of his six-year rule. But the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which has confirmed that Kelly was "the principal source" for its bombshell allegation, is also in deep trouble. Critics say that the BBC's acknowledgement casts doubt on its whole report, because Kelly had said he did not provide the substance of the report. The scientist had denied saying that government officials had hyped up the claim that Saddam could launch banned weapons at just 45 minutes' notice.

In parliament last week, Kelly said he could not believe the BBC report came from him, but the BBC said it believed it had "accurately interpreted and reported" information from Kelly. It now appears that either BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan falsely attributed the "hype" claims to Kelly, or that Kelly was lying when he told MPs that he had not made the accusations reported by Gilligan. But the government did allow Kelly's name to become public, throwing him into the glare of the media spotlight.

A YouGov poll for the Daily Telegraph newspaper showed 68 per cent of Britons think the government exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq, while 71 percent said it was wrong for the government to have named Kelly. Nearly two-thirds said Blair's communications chief Alastair Campbell, who has waged a vicious war of words with the BBC, should quit. "The death of David Kelly has inflicted immense damage on the reputation of a government that already had little reputation left," said Anthony King, professor of government at Essex University. Blair has ruled out resigning, but political sources believe Campbell and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon might yet do so (Reuters. 7/22/03).

RH:
The urgent need is to clean up the Iraq enterprise, and this row is an unfortunate distraction.

Ronald Hilton - 7/27/03