BBC to Put Blair on Hot Seat (Newsweek - Tenet too)

NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE

The British state-funded broadcasting network intends to demonstrate the truth of its controversial claims. Plus, George Tenet isn’t out of the woods yet

The reporter who allegedly taped Kelly, Susan Watts, said on TV that her anonymous source, now known to be Kelly, told her that Blair’s office was “desperate” for negative intelligence about Saddam and had exaggerated “out of all proportion” a claim that Iraq could launch chemical or biological weapons within 45 minutes.

Some BBC officials believe that if they can convincingly demonstrate through hard evidence (like notes and tapes) that the late scientist strongly expressed dismay that Blair’s government was hyping intelligence, then a senior judge appointed by the prime minister last week to investigate Kelly’s suspected suicide will have to investigate the underlying truth of Kelly’s alleged statements to the BBC in order to understand the scientist’s state of mind before his death. This in turn could lead not just to uncomfortable questions about Britain’s handling of intelligence on Saddam but also to questions about how Britain and the U.S. shared intelligence before the war and collaborated on the public release of dossiers and speeches by both the White House and 10 Downing Street (Blair’s official office and residence) alleging Saddam had to be taken out as soon as possible. (If past experience is any guide, the British government will strongly resist any efforts by the judge to investigate intelligence contacts between Britain and the United States). ---

Hang 'em all out to dry!

is everyone automatically assuming the guy committed suicide?

This annoys the hell outta me.

I for darned sure wouldn't off myself without saying my final piece in a suicide note (probably a damned book!). I for darned sure wouldn't do it miles from home or without, presumably, saying some sweet goodbye to my family. Was the knife even his? Do we even know that for sure? Did he have a prescription for that drug with the empty packet found so obviously right beside him?

This is making me crazy.

Aaargh!

Eloriel

I posed this question 2 days ago. But I think the sbject of Kelly had been beaten to death in several different threads. Why is that Oh Suicide, duh, case closed. You know the guy didn't ice himself. It was an assisted suicide.

was there liquid found with him?

with him? Isn't that one of the standard CIA-type scenarios - give someone drugs then throw him/her out of a window, off of a building, etc. and make it look like a suicide?

.

.... I've been thinking the same thing. We know this guy was *pissed off* at the treatment he'd been getting. Why wouldn't he leave a note implicating everyone he could? He was probably in a position to do some serious damage.

I will admit, despondent people sometimes do not behave rationally. Maybe he did off himself. I just hope the police are doing a *thorough* investigation, this really does not pass the smell test.

Such an un-guarded target would be quite easy to kill.

If I were a hit man, or led a death-squad, the way I'd off the scientist would be to knock him out with that same opiate gas that the Russians used on those Chechian theator terrorists. Then I'd put the victim in a van, and drive around a few hours, to provide sufficent time to drain his blood, then place his body back in an area where he would have been walking. The pills beside him would explain any traces of that opiate gas still left in his bloodstream. The killers couldn't have shot him, like with Enron's Baxter, because the gun would have been too hard to explain in England.