Posted on 07/19/2003 4:55:37 AM PDT by prairiebreeze
TOKYO (AFP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) said the death of an expert at the center of a dispute over Iraq (news - web sites)'s weapons programs was a "terrible tragedy", but added an independent inquiry must be allowed to determine the facts.
The discovery of the body of David Kelly on Friday triggered perhaps the worst crisis in Blair's six years in power, drawing heavy criticism from the British press and overshadowing the start of his six-day tour of East Asia.
Kelly, 59, a Ministry of Defence adviser on Iraqi biological weapons and former UN arms inspector, had Tuesday denied he was the main source of a disputed BBC report in late May that Downing Street had misused intelligence to beef up the case for joining the US-led war on Iraq.
In what he said would be the only statement on the affair, Blair said Kelly's death was "a terrible tragedy" and he felt "profoundly saddened" for both the unassuming civil servant and his family.
"There is now, however, going to be a due process and a proper and independent inquiry, and I believe that should be allowed to establish the facts," Blair said.
"I hope we can set aside speculation and claims and counterclaims, and allow that process to take its proper course," he said. "In the meantime, all of us, politicians and media alike, should show some respect and restraint."
Opposition Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith said Blair should consider cutting short his Asian trip.
"There are very many questions that will need to be asked over the coming days and I think if I were the prime minister I would want to be back here to deal with these," he said.
But a spokesman for Blair said there would be no changes to the prime minister's swing through Japan, South Korea (news - web sites) and China, including Hong Kong.
In Britain, newspapers rounded on Blair, accusing his government of using Kelly as a scapegoat.
"Death of the dossier fall guy" was the page-one headline of the right-wing Daily Telegraph, which called on chief government spokesman Alastair Campbell to quit over what it said was Blair's deepest ever crisis.
The right-wing Daily Mail attacked the government's treatment of Kelly under the headline "Proud of yourselves?", while the Financial Times described the death as "an immense blow to Tony Blair's government".
Blair issued his statement just before a speech to top Japanese business leaders, inviting them to invest more in Britain. He also encouraged Japan as a nation to become more engaged politically in global affairs.
Blair was flying over the Pacific, mid-way between Washington and Tokyo, when he learned by satellite telephone that Kelly had been found dead in woods in the English countryside, a day after he disappeared from his home.
Though legal experts had yet to formally identify Kelly's body, police left little doubt that it was his. Reports suggested his death was suicide.
Blair had hoped his East Asia swing, preceded by a stop in Washington on Thursday to see US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) and address the US Congress on the war on terror, would give him a respite from the Iraq controversy.
With hard evidence of Saddam's feared weapons of mass destruction yet to be found, let alone the deposed Iraqi strongman, more and more Britons have been questioning the morality of having joined the conflict.
Blair also hoped by coming to East Asia he might be able to help calm the escalating crisis over North Korea (news - web sites)'s claimed development of nuclear weapons.
North Korea had been expected to top the agenda during talks later Saturday between the British leader and his Japanese counterpart Junichiro Koizumi at the spa town of Hakone, near Mount Fuji.
Blair was to proceed Sunday to Seoul to meet South Korea's president Roh Moo-hyun, before going to Beijing for talks Monday with Chinese leaders. Later in the week he was to fly to Hong Kong via Shanghai.
Ironically, this weekend's crisis has its roots in Blair's last week-long journey abroad in late May when he visited British troops in southern Iraq.
It was then that BBC radio, quoting an anonymous intelligence source, reported that Downing Street had "sexed up" a 50-page dossier last September on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction.
That dossier included a disputed claim that Saddam's regime could deploy chemical or biological weapons in just 45 minutes.
Downing Street vigorously denied the report, then attacked the BBC for its Iraq coverage, before Kelly -- an unassuming civil servant who had contributed to the dossier -- emerged as the possible source of the May 29 BBC claim.
But, appearing before the House of Commons foreign affairs committee, he denied that he was the main source of the report -- a denial shared by the public broadcaster.
Nothing ironic about it at all. UK libs use the same tactics as ours do. Strike when the leader is out of the country.
Prairie
I hope Kelly left diaries which will help Tony, though I think the issue should have been laid to rest a long time ago.
I'm sure that Hillary is gloating after hearing of Kelly's death. After all, she told Tony that she thought an investigation by the Brits was the right way to go!!
| Thank you very much! |
| Thank you very much! |
| That's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me. |
| It isn't every day |
| good fortune comes me way! |
| I never thought the future would be fun for me! |
| And if I had a bugle |
| I would blow it to add a sort |
| o' how's your father's touch. |
| But since I left me bugle at home |
| I simply have to say |
| Thank you very, very, very much! |
| Thank you very, very, very much! |
And FWIW, anyone who's interested in a little backround on Andrew Gilligan, who's not even mentioned in the above article interesting enough, can click here for a backround story from the Guardian a couple of days ago.
Who gains by this man's death? Certainly not Blair.
My suspects are the far left in Blair's own party, who would like to unseat him as PM, aided by the left in this country, particularly the Clintons; the BBC and its allies in the print media; and foreign agents, particularly terrorists and/or the French.
I do not think Blair had anything to do with this. It may indeed have been a suicide, and if so will be easily identified as such by the coroner's inquest.
However, if the results are inconclusive, I remind everyone that Blair does NOT benefit from this death; enemies of Blair and Britain will.
Not yet. Decomposition has not yet set in. ;~)
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