← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · weisbrot
Thread ID: 8216 | Posts: 8 | Started: 2003-07-18
2003-07-18 14:33 | User Profile
LONDON (July 18) -- A body found in central England was tentatively identified by police as a missing Ministry of Defense adviser who was named as the possible source for a disputed news report that claimed the government doctored intelligence on Iraqi weapons to strengthen the case for war.
David Kelly's family reported him missing late Thursday when he didn't return to his home in Southmoor, about 20 miles southwest of Oxford, from an afternoon walk.
''The body found matches the description of David Kelly, but the body has not yet been formally identified,'' a spokeswoman for Thames Valley Police said.
Officers had earlier reported finding a man's body in a wooded area about 5 miles from Kelly's home.
Kelly, a 59-year-old former weapons inspector, was one of the figures at the center of a political storm over allegations that Prime Minister Tony Blair's office altered intelligence on Iraq's alleged weapons programs to support the decision to join the U.S.-led war in Iraq. The government denied the claim.
The Ministry of Defense said Kelly may have been the source for a British Broadcasting Corp. report that Blair aides gave undue prominence to a claim that Iraq could launch chemical or biological weapons on 45 minutes' notice.
The Ministry of Defense said Friday that Kelly had been told he had violated civil service rules by having unauthorized contact with a journalist, but ''that was the end of it.'' It said Kelly had at no point been threatened with suspension or dismissal after admitting speaking to the BBC reporter.
BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan subsequently said his source accused Alastair Campbell, Blair's communications director, of insisting on including the 45-minute claim.
''This is clearly a sensitive inquiry,'' David Purnell of Thames Valley Police spokesman told a press conference.
Purnell said police were trying to find out whether anyone else was missing from the area.
The controversy centers over the May 29 BBC report citing an unidentified official saying the 45-minute claim was inserted to build up an intelligence dossier published last September.
Kelly, a former U.N. weapons inspector, told a Parliament committee earlier this week he had spoken to the BBC. But he said he didn't make the claims in the report and didn't believe he was the source cited. The BBC has refused government requests to reveal who the source was.
The BBC report prompted two Parliamentary probes into the issue and fueled a wider controversy that has left Blair facing a barrage of questions over pre-war intelligence. The Foreign Affairs Committee cleared Blair's communications chief, Alastair Campbell, of allegations he tried to build up the September dossier by inserting the claim.
Blair was informed of the discovery of the body as he flew from Washington to Tokyo, his office confirmed.
Blair said Thursday in a historic address to Congress in Washington that he and President Bush would not be proven wrong in their prewar claims about Iraq's weapons capabilities. Even if they are, says Blair, a menace has been defeated.
The Defense Ministry said Friday, ''We are aware that Dr. David Kelly has gone missing and we are obviously concerned.''
A spokesman for Blair's office also expressed concern for Kelly's welfare. ''Our thoughts are with his family and friends,'' the spokesman said.
Officers said Kelly's failure to make contact with anyone was described by his family as ''out of character.''
Television journalist Tom Mangold said he had spoken to Kelly's wife, Janice, on Friday morning, and she had said her husband felt stressed after appearing before a parliamentary committee to face questions about the BBC report.
''She told me he had been under considerable stress, that he was very, very angry about what had happened at the committee, that he wasn't well, that he had been to a safe house, he hadn't liked that, he wanted to come home,'' Mangold told ITV news.
''She didn't use the word depressed, but she said he was very, very stressed and unhappy about what had happened and this was really not the kind of world he wanted to live in.''
The Ministry of Defense said it had offered accommodation for Kelly so that he could avoid media attention.
Initial searches of his house and its outbuildings and grounds were completed early Friday.
Donald Anderson, who chaired the Foreign Affairs Committee where Kelly testified on Tuesday, said the committee ''felt pretty confident that he (Kelly) was not in fact the source.''
Anderson, a Labor Party lawmaker, told BBC television that Kelly had appeared ''rather relaxed'' during his testimony and seemed to be ''on top of things.''
Conservative committee member Richard Ottaway said Kelly had suggested he was under great strain.
''At the meeting last week he did hint at the sort of pressure he was under,'' Ottaway said. ''He was asked to provide some evidence and he replied that he would do so but he could not get into his house because of the media pressure.''
AP-NY-07-18-03 0904EDT
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
2003-07-18 17:27 | User Profile
Like I said in another thread, it sure is weird that less than 72 hours after Sharon pays Blair a visit, an embarassment to the administrations on both sides of the Atlantic winds up dead.
2003-07-18 20:28 | User Profile
''She told me he had been under considerable stress, that he was very, very angry about what had happened at the committee, that he wasn't well, that he had been to a safe house, he hadn't liked that, he wanted to come home,'' Mangold told ITV news.
See, clearly a suicide. If not that, then it was JUST a freak accident. Perhaps he tripped and fell on some knives/bullets/poison? It could happen to anyone, really. :unsure:
2003-07-18 20:36 | User Profile
Wasn't Scott Ritter accused of child molestation? And didn't he have something negative to say about War on Iraq?
2003-07-18 20:47 | User Profile
Looks like Jorge and Tony are heading down a rough stretch. Very, Very fishy.
2003-07-18 20:49 | User Profile
Can you say coup d'England??
2003-07-18 20:52 | User Profile
This just reeks of a conspiracy.
2003-07-19 08:54 | User Profile
''She didn't use the word depressed, but she said he was very, very stressed and unhappy about what had happened and this was really not the kind of world he wanted to live in.''
"You see, the poor fellow was distraught, that's what it was. We all have a breaking point, and he'd reached his. A sad but mundane story: people commit suicide every day; they just don't get this kind of publicity.
Uh, hey - did you see that piece on Beckham in the Sun?"