The Iraq Inquiry has taken us back again to that period where the government had engaged in a massive military build up ready to invade Iraq, and was desperately looking for evidence on WMD to trigger the invasion – an invasion on which the Washington neo-cons had pinned their entire hopes for the future of the Bush presidency.
Just at that crucial time, one of the UK’s foremost experts on Iraqi WMD had let slip to the BBC that the government’s claims did not stand up. As a result, he was found dead in a wood, while the BBC journalist, Andrew Gilligan, who correctly reported that there were no WMD, was fired for telling the truth.
The punishment of the BBC for failing to unquestioningly echo Blair lies went much further. The Chairman and Director General were forced out. All because the BBC said there may have been no WMD, when there were not.
It is almost incredible even now to state what New Labour have done. God know what future historians will make of it.
The BBC was traumatised, and went through an acceleration of cultural change that prized “managers” over journalists, and stopped criticising government. A foundation stone of democracy had been blasted away by Tony Blair.
Kelly’s death was extremely convenient for Blair, Cheney and a myriad of other ultra ruthless people. It paved the way for war. We should not forget how very crucial the WMD issue was in convincing enough reluctant New Labour MPs to go along. Without the UK there would have been no coalition – most of the other Europeans would have quickly dropped out too. It is by no means clear that, despite Cheney’s bluster, the Americans would have invaded Iraq alone.
So Kelly was the first man killed in the Iraq war. Hundreds of thousands of people died in Iraq after Kelly. Arms manufacturers, mercenary companies and the security industry made tens of billions in profit. That’s a powerful motive to remove an obstacle. The Western oil companies are getting back into Iraq.
We will never know if Kelly would have gone on to repeat his – perfectly correct – doubts about Iraqi WMD, or if he would have shut up, as ordered by Tony Blair through the MOD. I do know, as many doctors have attested, it is extremely unlikely to bleed to death by cutting a wrist. I do know that the paramedics who attended said there was very little blood at the scene. I do know that the painkillers he took were a tiny proportion of a fatal dose and were not an anticoagulant. I do know that a chemical weapons expert like Dr Kelly would know better ways to kill himself.
And I do know that the government is keeping the evidence hidden for seventy years.
Kelly had been ostracised and therefore would have become isolated and dangerous. He may have published his book without getting it OKd by the government. Being a a biological weapons expert he would have known exactly who behind the front companies supplied Saddam with such weapons. I suspect it was the UK.
writerman,
laughed ” ..and punching cows with the good ol’ boys”
..and digging out armadillos!
Don’t know who Mark Golding is but that last post came from me.
I am definitely not Mark Golding.
Oh well.
Mark,
I salute Everyone who gets past the barbed wires of censorship, and not only does Very Good Real Acts of Discovery and Charity and Turns Horror Into Sustainable Peace and Happinness, even if its just a tiny little village more than half away around the World.
And Proudly Proclaim Their Real Name.
There is No Way, I can Ever Achieve Some Of The Most Wonderful Things Some Of My Friends Have Done.
People Never Cease To Amaze Me
And whilst on the Internet, or in The Newspapers or on TV, most of what you read is not very nice
But you have to be a little bit more objective
In most countries in the World, such aweful wars are not going on
And the people who travel and do good things most of the time, they do not take a camera and a microphone, and they don’t even write about it
They just do it
Tony
I’m having difficulty in finding the original media reports of the ‘suicide’ of Dr Kelly.
I’m pretty sure that I remember them saying he had taken 4 tablets.
Now reports suggest he had taken 19 out of a 20 packet.
Why the change in story ?
Why take all but the last in a packet anyway ?
Why can’t the police return his book for publication ?
I think the security service business on Tom’s site was some kind of joke by him. Fascinating thoough that he says that he will refuse to publish stuff which argues that Kelly was murdered. Most people think Kelly was murdered – which must mean that our New Labour trolls think most people are nutters.
Edo, I use “readership” in a generic sense. As in the “readership’ of the Daily Mail – i.e. people who take the paper regularly and have views broadly in line with its general line. My views are clearly not in line with the majority readership of this site. I hope that makes sense to you?
There was a time when Kings wanted to get rid of someone they’d lop his head off and blame it on the vikings.
I wonder what Larry would have said if he lived in that time period?
He took “up to 29” co-proxamol. The blister packets were found in the pocket of his jacket, a fact that Norman Lamb seems to find highly suspicious.
Yes, it makes sense Eddie. AND YOU’RE STILL A COCK. make sense?
“He took “up to 29″ co-proxamol”
“Up to” in this instance meaning about three.
In other words, a blister-pack holding 30 had one left in it. What genius decided this packet was definitely full when Kelly left the house?
He took “up to 29” co-proxamol.
This is a non-sensical statement.
He took “up to 1.3million co-proxamol” would be just as accurate.
That gives a wide brush to paint many pictures.
Is there a toxicologist’s report which gives a more precise dosage level.
i.e. a lethal or non-lethal dosage ?
or will we have to wait 70 years ?
“So who do you believe, him or a nutty Lib MP who has no medical qualifications?”
You believe the prominent doctors who have said that it couldn’t have been suicide.
Even Professor Robert Forrest has his complaints about the post mortem.
The only real question is why eddie is so unconcerned about all anomalies in this case.
He quite simply can’t be genuine, but then of course nothing about nulab ever was. It was a total fraud from start to finish, so much so indeed that they’ve overreached themselves to a point where I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of them getting banged up for their crimes, in the not too distant future.
All it takes is a change in the political atmosphere vis a vis the Arab world and future politicians wishing to distance themselves from the ancien regime.
No wonder Blair looks so haunted of late. Wouldn’t surprise me to see him seek sanctuary in the US or Israel, much as other notorious dictators have done.
Thanks Craig. It is clear Norman has established that there has been a single or serial procedural deficiencies or both.
In English law (not a lawyer) his evidence and other medical evidence by six doctors may be a prima facie reason for reopening the case/ Inquest?
I’m glad someone finally mentioned the co-proxamol (TM Distalgesic) found in the toxicology analyses. If combined with alcohol, it’s extremely hazardous even in low doses, (just a few times the recommended dose). The brother of a nurse I knew, died accidentally, having exceeding the recommended dose, after being invited out for drinks with his friends. Because of this, it is no longer prescribed on the NHS. The question remains though – why is the autopsy report being kept secret until the usual suspects are no longer accountable? The discrepancies surrounding the position of Mr Kelly’s body and other details mentioned above, including Operation Mason, make me think that there must be more to it than an overdose. If there’s nothing to hide, why hide it? People ridicule the wilder conspiracy theories sometimes put forward here, but we regularly find out what extraordinary things previous governments have been up to whenever statutes of limitation expire, so are we supposed to think that governments acted according to a different moral code just a few decades ago? We are each left trying to draw our own line somewhere between the extremes of gullibile acceptance and paranoia, based on just how far we think our government is prepared to go. Fifty years ago, how many people would have believed that the US government used the Mafia to further it’s ends. A lot of people are still unaware of the full extent of this, despite much of it being publicly available knowledge now, thanks to the greater freedom of information in the US. A much lesser, but still despicable crime, was flying a group of British passengers into Kuwait after the invasion had begun, knowing what would likely befall them, because among the passengers was an undercover SAS team. They got the BA crew out later, but left the ordinary citizens to their fate. Not as bad as using right-wing terrorists to bomb your own citizens, as happened at Bologna, but look up Gladio and you’ll find hints to where some of their training was carried out. So although I don’t believe the common 7/11 conspiracies, I understand why people end up believing such things when the truth is often stranger than fiction.
Sorry six doctors are already taking legal action according to the BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8397625.stm
Seeing that may me realise why the government made this latest statement.
The BMA are of course bullet-proof!??
Regarding the BBC ‘punishment’ as a result of their indiscretion: You omitted to mention that the BBC were awarded a ‘jewish’ office so that the news would always be fair and balanced. We are now bombarded on a daily basis with Jewish ‘vignettes’ on BBC world service to ensure that we understand.
I’d feel happier if at least one of those doctors in that list was a toxicologist/clinical pharmacologist. From personal experience I can tell you that even some clinical pharmacologists I’ve spoken to can be quite ignorant on specific areas of drug interactions. There’s just too much for them to be expected to know it all.
“13 doctors”…
http://tinyurl.com/krmlmy
“Although the doctors do not believe the painkillers taken by Dr Kelly contributed to his death in any way ?” as argued by Lord Hutton ?” they have restricted the scope of their dossier to refute the reasoning he used on the question of haemorrhage.”
I agree with them totally regarding the question of haemorrahage. The question of the co-proxamol isn’t being raised though. They may not believe it, but as I can’t find the list of all 13 I’m not sure on what authority.
Forgot my attribution for the above.
Oh dear you have unleashed some crackpot nut jobs. Time shown by a computer is based on the time set by that computer (even if the flight of fancy story is true).
Kellys treatment was shameful as is the BBCs craven attitude to the govt.
But Kelly believed in WMD.
Thanks George,
Owen,
Kelly had no alcohol in his blood (PM)and was not, I believe, suicidal, his family were in fact trying to come to terms with this conclusion according to this report:
“EVEN for gaffe-prone Geoff Hoon it was crass insensitivity.
As Dr David Kelly’s family struggled to come to terms with his suicide, his former boss the Defence Secretary went to the British Grand Prix.
Neither the BBC’s confirmation that Dr Kelly had been a crucial source for its journalists, nor the growing evidence that the Government deliberately thrust the shy civil servant into a harsh public spotlight, could keep Mr Hoon from the VIP hospitality at Silverstone.
His office offered the bizarre explanation that he was investigating plans to adapt motor racing’s quick-fuelling systems for use with military helicopters.”
Thanks George,
Owen,
Kelly had no alcohol in his blood (PM)and was not, I believe, suicidal, his family were in fact trying to come to terms with this conclusion according to this report:
“EVEN for gaffe-prone Geoff Hoon it was crass insensitivity.
As Dr David Kelly’s family struggled to come to terms with his suicide, his former boss the Defence Secretary went to the British Grand Prix.
Neither the BBC’s confirmation that Dr Kelly had been a crucial source for its journalists, nor the growing evidence that the Government deliberately thrust the shy civil servant into a harsh public spotlight, could keep Mr Hoon from the VIP hospitality at Silverstone.
His office offered the bizarre explanation that he was investigating plans to adapt motor racing’s quick-fuelling systems for use with military helicopters.”
If you are sure that he had no alcohol in his blood then the (reported) level of dextropopxyphene in his blood wouldn’t have been sufficient to kill him on its own. I thought I remembered that he had drunk a modest amount, but may well be wrong. I’ll have to look back through some of the news reports at the time, unless you can help out by pointing me directly to an authoritative source.
The sad thing is that we are heading as a country to an abyss.
But we do have a chance to put these people in jail. In the election we should be putting Labour in the dock – not just for the killing of David Kelly, but blood that Iraq and other wars have put on their hands. they are war criminals as bad as the stasi/nazis because they Have also stolen money from this country,perhaps not into Swiss bank accounts – just wasted (or worst into friends accounts).
Brown needs to go to jail for a very long time for his failures and Blair just needs to be sent away for a very long time.
“authoritative source”
That would be the post mortem report.