*Ø* Blogmanac | Blair says he won't resign over suicide
LONDON (AP) -- Prime Minister Tony Blair said he would take full responsibility if an inquiry finds the government contributed to the suicide of scientist David Kelly -- identified Sunday by the BBC as its main source in accusing the government of hyping weapons evidence to justify war in Iraq.
Blair, dogged on his trip through east Asia by angry charges about the Ministry of Defense adviser's death, said he has no intention of resigning over the dispute, as some critics at home have demanded. He welcomed the BBC's announcement, which temporarily shifted the angriest public criticism from his administration to the broadcaster, whose credibility came under attack.
"In the end, the government is my responsibility and I can assure you the judge (heading the inquiry) will be able to get to what facts, what people, what papers he wants," Blair told Sky News. The prime minister also said at a joint news conference with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in Seoul that he would testify in the investigation.
Kelly's suicide has visibly shaken Blair, who learned of it at the start of an exhausting Asian trip after flying first across the Atlantic to give a speech to the U.S. Congress. He appeared tense and preoccupied during appearances Saturday in Japan, and his characteristic wide grins were replaced by a withering glare when a reporter shouted: "Have you got blood on your hands, prime minister?"
Blair's government and the state-funded BBC have been embroiled in a bitter, drawn-out battle over a May 29 radio report by journalist Andrew Gilligan. The report quoted an anonymous source as saying officials had "sexed up" evidence about Iraqi weapons to justify war and insisted on publishing a claim that Saddam Hussein could deploy some chemical and biological weapons within 45 minutes -- despite intelligence experts' doubts.
After Kelly, a quiet, bearded microbiologist with a sterling international reputation, told his Ministry of Defense bosses he'd spoken to Gilligan, the ministry identified him as a possible source for the report.
Kelly was questioned by a parliamentary committee, and just days later, on Friday, police found his body in the woods near his Oxfordshire home. They said he bled to death from a slashed left wrist.
Source
"How can an inquiry into Dr Kelly's death fail to examine the reasons for war?
The Government has not quite crossed the Rubicon but is wading about in midstream in its efforts to confine the inquiry.
Lord Hutton has been asked to do the impossible. He has been handed the job of inquiring into the events that led to the tragic death of Dr David Kelly, and in the same breath has been warned off looking into the events that led up to the war on Iraq. It would take a combination of the judgement of Solomon and the skills of precision engineering to keep these two lines of inquiry in separate compartments."
quoting Robin Cook at Independent.co.uk
LONDON (AP) -- Prime Minister Tony Blair said he would take full responsibility if an inquiry finds the government contributed to the suicide of scientist David Kelly -- identified Sunday by the BBC as its main source in accusing the government of hyping weapons evidence to justify war in Iraq.
Blair, dogged on his trip through east Asia by angry charges about the Ministry of Defense adviser's death, said he has no intention of resigning over the dispute, as some critics at home have demanded. He welcomed the BBC's announcement, which temporarily shifted the angriest public criticism from his administration to the broadcaster, whose credibility came under attack.
"In the end, the government is my responsibility and I can assure you the judge (heading the inquiry) will be able to get to what facts, what people, what papers he wants," Blair told Sky News. The prime minister also said at a joint news conference with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in Seoul that he would testify in the investigation.
Kelly's suicide has visibly shaken Blair, who learned of it at the start of an exhausting Asian trip after flying first across the Atlantic to give a speech to the U.S. Congress. He appeared tense and preoccupied during appearances Saturday in Japan, and his characteristic wide grins were replaced by a withering glare when a reporter shouted: "Have you got blood on your hands, prime minister?"
Blair's government and the state-funded BBC have been embroiled in a bitter, drawn-out battle over a May 29 radio report by journalist Andrew Gilligan. The report quoted an anonymous source as saying officials had "sexed up" evidence about Iraqi weapons to justify war and insisted on publishing a claim that Saddam Hussein could deploy some chemical and biological weapons within 45 minutes -- despite intelligence experts' doubts.
After Kelly, a quiet, bearded microbiologist with a sterling international reputation, told his Ministry of Defense bosses he'd spoken to Gilligan, the ministry identified him as a possible source for the report.
Kelly was questioned by a parliamentary committee, and just days later, on Friday, police found his body in the woods near his Oxfordshire home. They said he bled to death from a slashed left wrist.
Source
"How can an inquiry into Dr Kelly's death fail to examine the reasons for war?
The Government has not quite crossed the Rubicon but is wading about in midstream in its efforts to confine the inquiry.
Lord Hutton has been asked to do the impossible. He has been handed the job of inquiring into the events that led to the tragic death of Dr David Kelly, and in the same breath has been warned off looking into the events that led up to the war on Iraq. It would take a combination of the judgement of Solomon and the skills of precision engineering to keep these two lines of inquiry in separate compartments."
quoting Robin Cook at Independent.co.uk
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