Death of Expert on Iraqi Arms Fuels Blair's Crisis

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, July 20, 2003

Death of Expert on Iraqi Arms Fuels Blair's Crisis

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British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Saturday was in the glare of spotlight over the unexplained death of the British expert on Iraqi banned weapons, which, some media here claim, has plunged Blair into the biggest crisis of his premiership.

David Kelly, 59, who was suspected to be the source of a BBC report claiming the British government had "sexed up" evidence on Iraqi's banned weapons, was found dead Friday, though formal identification has yet to be completed.

Police said the result of a postmortem may take another 24 hours. But media here widely suspect his death was suicide as he had been under great pressures after the Ministry of Defense claimed he had talked with the BBC defense correspondent.

Earlier in Tokyo, on the first leg of his Asian trip, Blair called on Britain's politicians and media to "show some respect and restraint" over Kelly's death. However, looking at Saturday's British media, it seemed that Blair's call was in vain.

The Financial Times on Saturday described Kelly's death as "an immense blow to Tony Blair's government", noting that Blair has been unable to turn the defeat of Saddam Hussein into political capital.

"The problems of postwar reconstruction of Iraq and the failure to find weapons of mass destruction have raised doubts among the public and media about the wisdom of going to war," the newspaper commented.

"The death of Mr. Kelly is the most dramatic event in a long-running political dispute that has seen the government and the BBC trade insults and threaten damage to both," it said.

Meanwhile, the broadsheet Independent said Kelly had been "a casualty of war", and "Death of the dossier fall guy" was the page-one headline of the right-wing Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Why his name had been leaked to the papers by the government was one of the most serious question needing to be addressed, said the paper, adding that the resulting media attention had left Kelly feeling like "a rabbit caught in the headlights", unable to escape.

Instead of its normal single column editorial, the Daily Mail devoted three to the expert's death, and pulled no punches on what it saw as a politically-inspired vendetta. It announced that Blairand his government were now facing their "Moment of Truth".

It said the victim was "pitch forked" into the very center of a huge public row - and the motive was transparent: to put pressure on the BBC to name its source for a report alleging the government had embellished an intelligence dossier to strengthen the case for war in Iraq.

The Daily Mail urged the prime minister to cut short his round-the-world trip, and recall parliament. It also called for the resignations of the government's director of communications Alastair Campbell, and Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon.

The Times ran a profile of Kelly, who it described as the scourge of Saddam Hussein, but who ended up being treated with contempt. It said Kelly's role in disarming the Iraqis' biological weapons arsenal was impossible to exaggerate.

While welcoming a judicial inquiry into his death, the Times said it is unlikely to find a "single villain" or a "simple explanation."

The Daily Express said although Kelly had undoubtedly felt under pressure following his appearance before the Commons committee, it was too early to draw any conclusions about what laybehind his apparent death.

Time and time again, television newscasts played shots of Kellybeing questioned by a parliamentary committee who labelled him "chaff" and a government "fall guy".

Earlier this week, Kelly denied being the BBC's main source forits radio report which claimed Downing Street had "sexed up" a dossier issued last September, which said Saddam Hussein could deploy chemical or biological weapons within 45 minutes.

After questioning Kelly on Tuesday, the Commons foreign affairs select committee said it was "most unlikely" he was the main source for the BBC story.

But Kelly's friend Tom Mangold told the Financial Times that the expert had come to believe he was indeed the source for the BBC story.

"I guess he couldn't cope with the firestorm that developed after he gave what he regarded as a routine briefing to Gillian (the BBC's defense correspondent who fired the story)," said Mangold.

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