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Blair Won't Resign Over Adviser's Suicide LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair said he would take full responsibility if an inquiry finds the government contributed to the suicide of scientist David Kelly — identified Sunday by the British Broadcasting Corp. as its main source in accusing the government of hyping weapons evidence to justify war in Iraq. Blair, dogged on his trip through east Asia by angry charges about the Ministry of Defense adviser's death, said he has no intention of resigning over the dispute, as some critics at home have demanded. He welcomed the BBC's announcement, which temporarily shifted...

The BBC will this week embark on the largest damage limitation exercise, arguably, of its 76-year history. A team of top executives and in-house lawyers will begin assembling documents, transcripts and tapes relating to the intelligence dossiers on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and the corporation's reliance on David Kelly, the government scientist found dead last week, as its main source for those stories. Ostensibly, the team is preparing evidence for the judicial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Mr Kelly's death. In reality, their work could determine the future regulation, editorial controls and structure of the publicly-funded broadcaster. "Everybody is...

BBC under fire as it admits Dr Kelly was source Lisa O'Carroll Sunday July 20, 2003 The BBC's credibility was called into question today after the corporation named David Kelly as the BBC's main source for Andrew Gilligan's Iraq dossier story which sparked the ferocious row with the government. In a statement, the director of news Richard Sambrook revealed that the Ministry of Defence microbiologist, who committed suicide on Friday, was the principle source for reports that intelligence on Iraq was "sexed up". The BBC said it stood by Gilligan's Today programme report on May 29th and said it believed...

Blair Stands Firm as BBC Says Scientist Was SourceSun July 20, 2003 10:53 AM ET By Andrew Cawthorne and Katherine Baldwin LONDON/SEOUL (Reuters) - Britain's Tony Blair ruled out resigning over the suicide of a defense expert whom the BBC identified on Sunday as its main source for an accusation that the government exaggerated the case for war in Iraq. "You've got to have broad shoulders in this job...I've got them," the prime minister said on an Asia tour overshadowed by the death of mild-mannered scientist and former U.N. weapons inspector David Kelly. Fueling a blame game that has dominated...

The BBC has confirmed that Dr David Kelly was the source for journalist Andrew Gilligan's allegations that intelligence on Iraq was "sexed up". The BBC said in a statement: "The BBC deeply regrets the death of Dr David Kelly. We had the greatest respect for his achievements in Iraq and elsewhere over many years and wish once again to express our condolences to his family. There has been much speculation about whether Dr Kelly was the source for the Today programme report by Andrew Gilligan on May 29th. Having now informed Dr Kelly's family, we can confirm that Dr Kelly...

Blair won’t quit over Kelly’s death   BBC confirms Defense Ministry scientist was source   British Prime Minister Tony Blair with his wife Cherie, waves upon his arrival at a Seoul airbase July 20.   MSNBC NEWS SERVICES July 20 —  British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Sunday he would accept responsibility if a probe into the suicide of a government scientist pointed to any wrongdoing by members of his government. Meanwhile, the British Broadcasting Corp. identified David Kelly as the main source for the report that the government exaggerated evidence of Iraq’s weapons.       THE PRIME...

LONDON (AP) - The British Broadcasting Corp. said Sunday that David Kelly, a scientist whose apparent suicide intensified a debate over whether the government inflated claims about Iraqi weapons, was its main source for a story at the center of the dispute. "Having now informed Dr. Kelly's family, we can confirm that Dr. Kelly was the principal source" for a story in which reporter Andrew Gilligan quoted an anonymous official as saying the government had inflated claims of Iraqi weapons, the network said in a statement. "The BBC believes we accurately interpreted and reported the factual information obtained by us...

Tony Blair was under unprecedented pressure last night as the suicide of Dr David Kelly, the weapons expert, plunged his Government into its gravest crisis. The Prime Minister, clearly shaken, reacted with shock to accusations that he had "blood on his hands" over the death of Dr Kelly, who police yesterday revealed had slashed his left wrist and bled to death, possibly after taking a large dose of painkillers. In a dramatic development last night, the Ministry of Defence admitted that it had privately given Dr Kelly's name to three newspapers on July 9. This contradicted earlier claims by Geoff...

Ananova: Kelly warned of 'dark actors playing games' Weapons expert Dr David Kelly reportedly told of "many dark actors playing games" in an email to a journalist hours before his suicide. The words appeared to refer to officials at the Ministry of Defence and UK intelligence agencies with whom he had sparred over interpretations of weapons reports, according to the New York Times. The message gave no indication that he was depressed and said he was waiting "until the end of the week" before judging how his appearance before the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee had gone. The newspaper...

If Dave Kelly is dead, he is dead because of something that happened in journalism which means that we all have to look to our consciences," said Tom Mangold, a television journalist and friend of the Ministry of Defence scientist at the centre of the "sexed up" dossier row. But the BBC was adamant yesterday that its conscience was clear. The Today correspondent Andrew Gilligan admitted that the allegation on May 29 that the Iraq dossier had been "sexed up" came from a single source. The Government immediately accused the BBC of shoddy journalism. It also criticised the corporation for...

Family said life 'intolerable' Scientist died from slit wrist DAVID KELLY felt betrayed by the leaking of his name and was put under “intolerable” pressure by being placed at the centre of the row between the government and the BBC. The government scientist, who was found dead in a field with a slit wrist near his home on Friday, also said he was put “through the wringer” during meetings with Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials and spoke of “many dark actors playing games”. The disclosures, made in an interview and e-mails, came as cabinet ministers privately admitted yesterday that...

SOUTHMOOR, England (AP) -- David Kelly was a respected family man who rode horses and played cribbage on the pub team near his quiet, Oxfordshire village, a world away from his high-stakes work as a top Iraq weapons expert. That larger world led the 59-year-old scientist into stressful, unpleasant circumstances, caught in the middle of a no-holds-barred battle between the media and the government over the honesty of Prime Minister Tony Blair's case for war. Two days after he testified before Parliament, Kelly committed suicide, slitting his left wrist, authorities said Saturday. His death has shaken Britain's government and raised...

LONDON/TOKYO (Reuters) - British police revealed on Saturday that a scientist at the center of a row over the government's justification for war in Iraq had died of a slit wrist, leaving little doubt he had taken his own life. A haggard Prime Minister Tony Blair urged the media on a visit to Tokyo to "set aside the speculation and the claims and the counter-claims" over the death of Dr David Kelly, a Defense Ministry weapons expert. Kelly was named as a possible "mole" for a news story saying aides to Blair -- who has staked his career on his...

Tony Blair to resign? 19/07/2003 13:36 - (SA) Hakone, Japan - British Prime Minister Tony Blair refused to say on Saturday whether he might resign over the apparent suicide death of David Kelly, an expert at the centre of a dispute over Iraq's weapons programs. When asked at a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi whether he had "blood on his hands" and might resign, Blair only stared straight ahead and remained speechless. Blair also refused to say if his defence secretary Geoff Hoon or top media strategist Alastair Campbell had offered to quit their posts over the...

UK POLICE SAY WMD SCIENTIST DIED OF SLASHED WRIST

British scientist involved in Iraq debate found dead By BETH GARDINER, Associated Press Writer July 19, 2003 David Jones / AP Police work at the site where the body of David Kelly, believed to be the source of allegations the government doctored a report about Iraq's nuclear program, was found. SOUTHMOOR, England (AP) -- A body found in the Oxfordshire woods added a dark twist Friday to questions about the intelligence Prime Minister Tony Blair used to justify war in Iraq. Police tentatively identified the dead man as David Kelly, a Defense Ministry expert suspected of being the source of...

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...

<p>LONGWORTH, England &#8212; A British scientist was found dead in the woods yesterday after being unwittingly dragged into a fierce political dispute about intelligence used to justify war on Iraq.</p> <p>British police said they had found a body believed to be that of soft-spoken Defense Ministry biologist David Kelly, a former U.N. weapons inspector who had been questioned in Parliament about charges that the government inflated intelligence data to justify war.</p>

By Sam Coates, Adam Fresco and Dominic Kennedy A softly spoken exterior masked a steely, dedicated scientist who plagued Iraq EXACTLY what made Dr David Kelly’s life suddenly unbearable will be the focus of political recriminations for years to come. The pioneering weapons inspector who uncovered Saddam Hussein’s secret anthrax programme was incensed at his treatment by a committee of MPs and frustrated that his own evidence to them had been flawed. Dr Kelly apparently found it impossible to live with his inner torment. At 3pm on Thursday he left his house, saying he was going for a walk. Paul...

Adviser was forced to live in safe house as frenzy grew By Cahal Milmo 19 July 2003 The phone calls to David Kelly's home and office from journalists began shortly after the BBC report which sparked the controversy over whether the Government had "sexed up" its Iraq dossier. At first the calls were tactful approaches from specialist reporters, many of whom Dr Kelly had spoken to unofficially over the past 10 years for guidance on the issue of arms control, to ask whether he was the "senior British official" cited by the BBC. By early this week, the media maelstrom...