Free Republic

LONDON - A British Broadcasting Corp. reporter — and not a top government weapons adviser — was the one who suggested during an interview that a top aide of Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) was behind an exaggeration of the threat posed by Iraq (news - web sites), an arms expert said Thursday. That testimony by Olivia Bosch contradicted statements by the BBC's Andrew Gilligan, who said adviser David Kelly suggested the name of key Blair aide Alastair Campbell without prompting. Bosch, testifying at an inquiry into Kelly's apparent suicide, said Kelly told her during a phone...

BBC admits status of Kelly was played up Matt Wells, media correspondent Wednesday September 3, 2003 The Guardian The BBC has admitted overplaying David Kelly's status in the rush to stay ahead of the government during the battle of wills over the Iraq dossier affair. The BBC chairman, Gavyn Davies, conceded that a description of the weapons expert as a "senior intelligence source" in a crucial statement issued by the BBC governors after an emergency meeting at the height of the row was inserted at the last minute by a press officer. The news is a mirror of the "sexing...

<p>Not long ago, a low-budget movie about ghosts and goblins, called "The Blair Witch Project," was a box office success. Now, another Blair is plagued by ghosts. This Blair happens to be Britain's Prime Minister.</p> <p>American media have not picked up on the seriousness of Tony Blair's political woes. Horrible storms, power outages, the California political spectacle over the governor's recall election and bad news from Iraq have dominated the news in American this summer. In Great Britain, the ghost is in the form of a deceased Ministry of Defense scientist, David Kelly, who apparently committed suicide in July after having been "outed" or identified as the source for an explosive BBC story in May on the Iraq war and allegations of Number Ten and the Prime Minister's Officehaving grossly misrepresented the threat.</p>

A remarkable article by Dr David Kelly, published for the first time today, reveals the government scientist's true views ahead of the war on Iraq and his expert assessment of the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. In a development which could have a major influence on the Hutton inquiry, Kelly said that, although the threat was 'modest', he believed military action was the only way to 'conclusively disarm' the country. He also argued that there was evidence Saddam still had chemical and biological weapons and regime change, the policy of the United States, was the only way to stop the...

<p>LONDON &#8212; Prime Minister Tony Blair's administration suffered another blow yesterday when the widow of its main bioweapons expert blamed defense ministry officials along with lawmakers and the news media for the distress that drove her husband to suicide.</p> <p>Yet Mr. Blair may take some comfort from a newly surfaced document in which former chief U.N. weapons inspector David Kelly wrote that a regime change in Iraq was the only way to end the dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.</p>

<p>U.K.'s Kelly Backed Iraq War, Didn't Think Was Source (Update1) Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- David Kelly favored the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime and didn't realize he was the source of a report criticizing U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair's argument for war against Iraq, family members told an inquiry.</p>

September 1, 2003 Dispute Over Arms Dossier Wounds the BBCBy WARREN HOGE ONDON, Aug. 31 — The BBC, the world's largest and best known public service broadcaster, sends out millions of words daily, but its long-nurtured reputation for accuracy, fairness and objectivity is being challenged for just 20 of them. On May 29, the defense correspondent of its morning radio news show, Andrew Gilligan, said that the government had inserted into its dossier of intelligence on Iraqi arms the claim that Saddam Hussein had biological and chemical weapons that were deployable within 45 minutes. ReutersGavyn Davies, the BBC chairman, has...

Government scientist Dr David Kelly believed military action was the only way of "finally and conclusively" disarming Iraq, it is claimed. The weapons inspector gave his views in an article for a report on Iraq compiled a few weeks before the war against Saddam Hussein. Dr Kelly agreed to write the article anonymously but it was never published, the report's editor, Julie Flint, told the Observer. The scientist's body was found on July 18 near his Oxfordshire home in an apparent suicide. It came just after he was revealed as the source for stories that the Government had "sexed up"...

LONDON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - David Kelly, the scientist at the heart of a Britain's Hutton inquiry, wrote an article before he died, saying military action seemed the only way to "conclusively disarm" Iraq, the Observer newspaper reported on Sunday. His hawkish stance is likely to comfort the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair as Kelly's widow prepares to give evidence to the inquiry on Monday, it added. Kelly, widely acknowledged as Britain's leading expert on banned Iraqi banned weapons, killed himself last month after becoming embroiled in a major political row over whether Blair exaggerated the case for...

An article by arms expert David Kelly downplayed the threat from Iraq but backed regime change, it is reported.

A remarkable article by Dr David Kelly, published for the first time today, reveals the government scientist's true views ahead of the war on Iraq and his expert assessment of the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. In a development which could have a major influence on the Hutton inquiry, Kelly said that, although the threat was 'modest', he believed military action was the only way to 'conclusively disarm' the country. He also argued that there was evidence Saddam still had chemical and biological weapons and regime change, the policy of the United States, was the only way to stop the...

5.45pm update -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ISC chief vetoed Kelly strategy Matthew Tempest Wednesday August 27, 2003 Ann Taylor, the chair of the intelligence and security committee, told today how she objected to "being bounced" into having David Kelly's identity made public through an appearance at her committee. Vetoing a proposal from Sir David Omand at the Cabinet Office that an open letter be sent to the ISC revealing that someone had come forward, Ms Taylor said the idea was "inappropriate". Asked at the Hutton inquiry what she thought of her committee being a vehicle for the revelation that a Ministry of Defence...

BBC's Gilligan doomed Gilligan ... faces the sack By NIC CECIL Political Correspondent BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan faces the axe over the Dr David Kelly suicide row, it emerged last night. Defence Correspondent Gilligan, 34, is expected to be allowed to resign rather than be sacked. But a BBC insider said last night: “It would be unthinkable for him to return to the corporation at any level now.” Scientist Dr Kelly killed himself after being named as the source for Gilligan’s claim that a Government dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was “sexed up”. Gilligan has been repeatedly slammed...

Possible info source. It was announced that a lot of documents are posted for download here.

Kelly's chilling words: 'I'll be found dead in the woods' Diplomat reveals inspector's pre-war doubts Ewen MacAskill, Nicholas Watt and Vikram Dodd Friday August 22, 2003 The Guardian The weapons specialist, Dr David Kelly, said six months ago that he would "probably be found dead in the woods" if the American and British invasion of Iraq went ahead, Lord Hutton's inquiry was told yesterday. His chilling prediction of his own death during a conversation with the British diplomat David Broucher in Geneva in February, throws new light on his state of mind about the row over Britain's role in the...

Dr David Kelly predicted he would be "found dead in the woods" if Iraq was invaded, months before his apparent suicide, the Hutton Inquiry has heard. Foreign Office official David Broucher said Dr Kelly had made what he thought to be the "throwaway" remark in February. Mr Broucher said he met the weapons expert in Geneva. Dr Kelly had told him that continued inspections "properly carried out would give a degree of certainty about compliance" with UN disarmament demands. "He said he had tried to reassure them that if they cooperated with the weapons inspections, they had nothing to fear,"...

<p>Government weapons scientist David Kelly feared he might "end up dead in the woods" if a U.S.-led coalition attacked Iraq, a colleague testified Thursday at a judicial inquiry into his suicide.</p> <p>Kelly, identified as the source of a British Broadcasting Corp. report that questioned the integrity of the government's case for war, was found dead July 18 at the edge of a clump of woods near his rural home.</p>

David Kelly said Gilligan report was 'bullshit', inquiry told Click here to enter the Hutton inquiry website Ciar Byrne and Julia Day Thursday August 21, 2003 David Kelly told a Sunday Times journalist that Andrew Gilligan's report on the Today programme was "bullshit" and said he had been "put through the wringer" by the Ministry of Defence over the affair. Nicholas Rufford told the Hutton inquiry today he visited Dr Kelly at his Oxfordshire home on Wednesday July 9, the day the MoD press office confirmed his name to journalists. Rufford said he had asked Dr Kelly about his meeting...

Blair Reacted Quickly to Naming of Iraq Expert Mon August 18, 2003 09:49 AM ET By Dominic Evans LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair called an immediate meeting of his top advisers on hearing that a senior weapons expert had named himself as a possible source for a damning BBC report on Iraq, an inquiry heard on Monday. The revelation, made by Blair's chief of staff Jonathan Powell, suggests how keen Blair was to rebut the BBC story, which accused the government of exaggerating Iraq's weapons threat to justify its case for war. Weapons expert David Kelly told...

The FBI has accused the BBC of wrecking an elaborate operation that was designed to infiltrate al-Qaida. The BBC, regarded by some as institutionally anti-American, is said to have aborted the operation by broadcasting an "exclusive" report about the arrest of a British arms dealer last Tuesday. The arms dealer was allegedly attempting to purchase ground-to-air missiles for terrorist clients who were seeking to shoot down civilian airliners in the United States. But what 68-year-old Hemant Lakhani did not know was that he was the subject of an elaborate, 18-month-long sting operation that involved Russian intelligence "suppliers" and FBI "customers."...