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The father of two Black Watch soldiers serving at Camp Dogwood in Iraq threatened to kill the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, yesterday because he was a "two-faced lying git". James Buchanan, whose sons Gary, 27, and Craig, 24, both corporals, were due to return home but then redeployed north to reinforce the American assault on Falluja, said: "This man has got me so angry. If I see him in the street I would kill him. I would kill that man. I would cut his throat." The former RAF warrant officer's outburst came at the launch of Families Against the War,...

HOON STICKS TO HIS GUNS Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has been justifying his role in a new controversy over the type of weapons Iraq was alleged to have possessed. The claim - made before MPs were asked to vote for war - was that Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes. Mr Hoon says he had known this related only to battlefield weapons, not missiles. The Prime Minister told the Commons he had been unaware of this. Appearing before the Defence Select Committee today, Mr Hoon said he had discovered the information because he had asked the...

UK Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has been awarded the Pentagon's highest civilian honour for the British armed forces' role in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Distinguished Public Service Award was given to Mr Hoon by his US counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld, at a small ceremony at the Pentagon. It was awarded in recognition for Mr Hoon's leadership role in the so-called war on terror, a top US official said. It was also a gesture of thanks for the role UK armed forces played in Iraq. 'Instrumental' work The Bush administration has described the work of British armed forces in "liberating" Iraq as...

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...

To 30 oil wells on fire in Iraq, according to Geoff Hoon To 30 oil wells were set fire to by the Iraqi forces in the south of Iraq, according to last estimates', declared the Minister for British Defense Geoff Hoon in a maintenance with the BBC (radio). "La last estimate which I received before leaving the ministry for Defense this morning is that perhaps to 30 oil wells were deliberately burnt ", specified Mr. Hoon. "Dans the current context, it is perhaps less worse than what us planes fears, because there are several hundreds of oil well in...

DUFF HOON TO GO EXCLUSIVE: He carries the can for Rumsfeld shambles DEFENCE Secretary Geoff Hoon faces the sack as soon as the conflict in Iraq is over. Tony Blair has decided to give the hapless Minister his marching orders after Hoon's latest blunder nearly derailed the Government war strategy. Mr Hoon - dubbed "Buff-Hoon" by colleagues - is tipped to be replaced by Education Secretary Charles Clarke. Mr Blair was furious after Mr Hoon's American counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld, declared that the US could engage in a military conflict without Britain. His statement followed a lengthy telephone conversation with...