Free Republic

<p>BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq predicted Saturday that Saddam Hussein will be tracked down, but warned that the threat from "foreign terrorists" infiltrating the country would persist even after Saddam is captured and the remnants of his regime are hunted down.</p>

<p>A judge probing the suicide of former U.N. weapons inspector David Kelly said Friday he would call Prime Minister Tony Blair, the defense secretary and figures from the British Broadcasting Corp. to testify.</p> <p>Launching his inquiry, Lord Hutton insisted he would not allow the row between the government and the state-funded broadcaster to muddy his inquiry into the death and the use of intelligence in the build up to war in Iraq.</p>

Lord Hutton is to set out how he intends to conduct his inquiry into the death of Government scientist Dr David Kelly. The preliminary session was set after the Law Lord met Dr Kelly's widow. At a preliminary hearing, Lord Hutton will explain how he plans to conduct the investigation and possibly outline who he intends to call to give evidence. He is also expected to hear requests from broadcasters to lift a ban on television cameras at everything but the opening and closing statements. Media interest is huge, with journalists from all over the world expected in such high...

THE BBC has admitted that it had made "slips of the tongue" in describing its source for bitterly contested allegations about the intelligence dossier on Iraq released by the Blair Government last September. The BBC acknowledged that a number of journalists, including defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan, made errors when claiming the stories were based on an "intelligence source" when, in fact, David Kelly, who committed suicide last Friday and has subsequently been revealed by the BBC as its source for claims the dossier was "sexed up" by Downing Street, was a Ministry of Defence consultant. A BBC spokesman said on...

In England, they're shooting the messengers – and at least one man is dead already In England, they shot the messenger. True, the death of British biological weapons expert David Kelly was a suicide. But if the reserved scientist took his own life, it was in response to the British Ministry of Defense outing and reprimanding him as the alleged whistle-blower behind the BBC's controversial report that the government "sexed up" its intelligence information to make the case for war. The BBC charge against the government in this instance was quite mild, because what Tony Blair did was not merely...

The BBC says it has a tape recording of David Kelly voicing serious concerns over the role of Downing Street in the disputed Iraq dossier. The corporation is planning to submit the tape as evidence during the inquiry into the death of the weapons expert. Susan Watts, the science editor of Newsnight, recorded her conversations with Dr Kelly, parts of which were later broadcast anonymously as a "source", using the voice of an actor. The report, which was broadcast on 2 June, suggested Downing Street had been "desperate" to find information to justify its stance on a war against Iraq....

Governor demands new summit to reconsider evidence on Dr Kelly THE FIRST cracks at the top of the BBC over the handling of the David Kelly tragedy appeared last night with a demand from one of the eleven governors for an emergency meeting of the board. The governor told The Times that there should be an early meeting to review whether the board had all the facts it needed when it met on July 6 to back Andrew Gilligan, the BBC’s defence correspondent, and the corporation’s decision to broadcast claims that Downing Street had “sexed up” the Iraqi intelligence dossier....

If anyone has "blood on his hands" over the suicide of a Defence department scientist, it's not British Prime Minister Tony Blair, but people at the BBC itself. It's now acknowledged that Dr. David Kelly killed himself because he feared being "outed" as the one who leaked to the BBC, information that Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction had been "sexed up" in Blair's pre-war speech about Iraq's weapons. What is beyond dispute is that the suicide has upped the stakes in the crisis over Blair's leadership. Ex-cabinet minister Glenda Jackson calls for his removal. While embarrassing for Blair, the...

The suicide of former weapons inspector David Kelly has caused huge problems for Tony Blair; recent polls indicate that his standing with voters has declined precipitously, and the press generally seems to take it for granted that Kelly's death puts Blair in a sinister light. This spin is really rather odd, given how supportive Kelly was of Blair, his administration, and the controversial Iraq dossier when Kelly testified before a Parliamentary committee. The BBC itself provides this summary: "What Kelly Told the MPs". Here are sample Kelly quotes:"It [the BBC's story] is not a factual record of my interaction with...

ICONOCLAST'S DAILY NOTEBOOK.... THE BBC GETS ITS MAN -- The Ruthless Media Assassinations Of Brit Scientist David Kelly and P.M. Tony Blair..... July 22, 2003: Now let's see if we can put the whole Tony Blair scandal in perspective. On May 29, the British Broadcasting Corporation's senior anti-war correspondent, Andrew Gilligan, broke an inside story that Tony Blair's government had "sexed up" an intelligence report to Parliament documenting Saddam Hussein's pursuit of nuclear weapons. The story was attributed to an anonymous "senior" intellegence source in the British government. A storm of outrage descended upon Prime Minister Blair and his Bush-loving...

<p>July 22, 2003 -- Just as President Bush's critics on Capitol Hill and in America's reflexively lefty media have seized on an alleged "smoking gun" of faulty intelligence to undercut his public support, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is coming under similar assault.</p>

The political fallout from the apparent suicide of David Kelly hit the highest levels of government on Monday after it emerged that Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, had personally authorised his department's strategy for dealing with the scientist. As Tony Blair and Mr Hoon brace themselves for public interrogation by a senior law lord investigating Mr Kelly's death, Downing Street also conceded that it was consulted by the Ministry of Defence on several occasions over his treatment. Mr Hoon's direct involvement in the handling of Mr Kelly - the weapons expert at the centre of the row between the government...

A judicial inquiry will probe the circumstances of Iraq weapons expert David Kelly's apparent suicide. LONDON – A row between the British government and the BBC over the motive for the Iraq war has turned toxic following the apparent suicide of a government "mole" at the heart of the affair, with the fallout spreading deep into the cabinet and up to Prime Minister Tony Blair himself. The death of government scientist and Iraq weapons expert David Kelly, who was found Friday in a wooded area with one wrist slashed in what police described as a suicide, marks a macabre turn...

<p>If history doesn't go your way, rewrite it. That's the way demagogues have operated through the ages and, while it seldom works in the long term, it can succeed in the short run, where elections are won and lost. This strategy is now being fully deployed on both sides of the Atlantic in an attempt to nullify the victory in Iraq.</p>

LONDON, July 20 - The BBC said today that Dr. David Kelly, the British weapons expert who committed suicide last week, was the source for a report on doctoring intelligence files that led to a battle between the broadcaster and the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair. The announcement by the BBC's director of news, Richard Sambrook, cast doubt on the network's credibility, because Dr. Kelly had told a parliamentary committee two days before his death that he had not provided the report's central contention - that the government had "sexed up" a government intelligence dossier by incorporating a claim...

Relief for Blair as crisis engulfs BBC •Corporation faces calls for resignations•Gilligan says he did not misquote Dr Kelly THE BBC was fighting to save its credibility last night after finally disclosing that David Kelly, the weapons expert who committed suicide last week, was the main source of its claims that Downing Street had “sexed up” its dossier on Iraqi weapons. The corporation was plunged into the biggest crisis in its postwar history as it faced angry charges that it had caused the death of Dr Kelly through not admitting earlier what informed opinion in Westminster and Whitehall had long...

Statement shows BBC may have ‘sexed up’ its coverage THE BBC yesterday ended an epic 52-day pretence about its source for claims that Downing Street deliberately deceived the British people by “sexing up” a dossier on Iraq to strengthen the case for war. But it is now the BBC that appears to have deliberately deceived viewers, listeners, its Board of Governors and Parliament about the origins of this extraordinary battle with the Government. The apparent suicide of David Kelly has changed the rules of engagement. By confirming that the Ministry of Defence adviser was the source, the BBC yesterday laid...

THE death of Dr David Kelly is a sombre event in itself and should be a cautionary signal both to the BBC and the government. It surely ought to draw a line under the wrangle between the BBC and the government about the allegations by the BBC’s reporter, Andrew Gilligan, concerning the dossier issued by the government to add strength to its justification for going to war with Iraq. If Dr Kelly did indeed kill himself, then his death must without doubt be ascribed to this confrontation. And the instigator of that confrontation was undoubtedly the BBC. What cannot be...

Cracks appear in BBC ranks as executives face staff revolt Journalists fear they may be tarnished by Kelly furore Matt Wells, media correspondent Monday July 21, 2003 The Guardian Senior BBC executives seemed isolated from their own staff last night when the corporation implicitly accused David Kelly of failing to be entirely open when he appeared before MPs last week. Andrew Gilligan, the journalist at the centre of the row, said he did not misquote Dr Kelly in his original report. Executives believe privately that the scientist, who committed suicide on Thursday, held reservations about Downing Street's involvement in the...

Tony Blair has suffered huge damage to his reputation among voters as a direct result of the death of Dr David Kelly, the weapons expert, and the Government's bitter and protracted dispute with the BBC, according to a poll.   Tony Blair: no intention of standing down The row has also inflicted damage on the BBC after it admitted yesterday that the scientist had been the main source for its story claiming that the Government had "sexed up" a dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destrustion.Dr Kelly's MP, Robert Jackson, called yesterday for Gavyn Davies, the BBC chairman, to resign.The...