New evidence of cover up in Dr David Kelly's death. Doctors want inquest.

[Magda Hassan]

Yeah, he's their boy who delivered alright. But maybe he delivered the wrong thing to someone. Or they're still waiting.

[Malcolm Pryce]

I told you before - he's going to be the next Pope. It was the only job 'they' could offer that he really wanted.

[Magda Hassan]

Dr David Kelly was on a hitlist, says UN weapons expert as calls grow for full inquest


By Miles Goslett and Arthur Martin
Last updated at 2:31 AM on 14th August 2010

'High target': There are fresh calls for an inquest into Dr David Kelly's death

A leading UN weapons inspector last night added his voice to the growing clamour for a full inquest into the death of Dr David Kelly.
Dr Richard Spertzel claimed Dr Kelly was on a 'hitlist' in the final years of his life.
The former head of the UN Biological Section, who worked closely with Dr Kelly in Iraq in the 1990s, has written to Attorney General Dominic Grieve about the 'mysterious circumstances' surrounding the death.
The weapons inspector's body was found after he was unmasked as the source of a damaging BBC news report questioning the grounds for the Iraq war.

Officially, he took his own life.
Yesterday Dr Spertzel told the Mail that the British authorities were 'intentionally ignoring' the issue.
He believes that there is something 'fishy' and insisted that a coroner should examine the death as soon as possible.
His demands come 24 hours after nine of Britain's leading medical experts wrote an open letter to minsters demanding a full inquest.
Dr Spertzel said: 'I know that David, as well as myself and a couple of others, were on an Iraqi hitlist. In late 1997, we were told by the Russian embassy in Baghdad. I had no idea what it meant but apparently David and I were high on the priority list.'

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He said he and Dr Kelly were told that they were 'numbers three and four' on the list during an inspection trip in Iraq.
'When it first happened I felt right away that David just being associated with the work he'd been doing for the UK government would have made him a high target,' Dr Spertzel said.


More...

• Now NINE top doctors demand new inquest into 'suicide' of weapons inspector David Kelly
  

'The Iraqi intelligence service did not take kindly to such action so my first reaction [to Dr Kelly's death] was "we'd better watch our backs".'
No inquest has ever been held into Dr Kelly's death. Instead, a public inquiry chaired by Lord Hutton was set up to investigate the circumstances surrounding it.
Inquest call: Dr Richard Spertzel claims he and Dr Kelly were on a hitlist

The inquiry ruled that the 59-year-old committed suicide in woodland near his Oxfordshire home in July 2003 by cutting the ulnar artery in his wrist with a blunt pruning knife.
Dr Spertzel, who is based in Washington where he continues to write and lecture on biological weapons, said: 'My concern about David Kelly's death is exactly what the doctors are saying now - that is, it's virtually impossible to commit suicide by slashing your wrist in that way.

'It just doesn't make sense. It seems to me that they [the British authorities] are intentionally ignoring all this. Something's fishy.'
Yesterday some of the doctors who wrote to ministers demanded an end to the shroud of secrecy over the death.
They want the official post-mortem results to be made public and for witnesses to give evidence under oath.
Concern over the cause of death has been mounting after it emerged in January that all medical and scientific records, including the post-mortem report and photographs of the body, were secretly classified for 70 years in 2004.
Sir Barry Jackson, past president of the British Academy of Forensic Science and one of the doctors who wrote to ministers, said yesterday: 'In my experience from 30 years as a practising surgeon I find it difficult to agree with the cause of death as listed on his death certificate.'

Another, Dr Elizabeth Driver, a solicitor and Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, added: 'As a pathologist I cannot understand how Dr Kelly could have died from blood loss of a severed ulnar artery. It makes no medical sense. Little is known about the medical facts because the post-mortem has been kept secret.
'There are obvious questions which were not addressed in the inquiry.'
Doubts over the official version of his death have previously been raised by Mai Pederson, a U.S. Air Force linguist who served in Iraq with Dr Kelly's weapons inspection team.
She said he had a painful elbow injury which meant his hand was too weak to cut a steak.
He would have to have been a 'contortionist' to have killed himself in the way the Hutton Inquiry claimed, she said.
She also said he had a disorder that made it difficult to swallow pills, undermining Lord Hutton's claims that he took some himself.

[Peter Lemkin]

Now, if only the British Sheeple would bleat loudly, they may force an inquiry [which in my mind could go a long way to causing a collapse of both main parties and the status quo of 'ministers, Ministries' and the secret government apparatus in the UK]......wouldn't it be 'lovely'......should happen worldwide!...one nation at a time.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Very very spooky.

Fellow Tory MP, Ann Widdecombe, famously said that "there is something of the night" about Michael Howard.

I find it hard to believe that Howard's intervention has anything to do with altruism, or truth-seeking, or anything similar. I suspect we're seeing the visible tip of deep politcial machinations.

As I discussed earlier with Peter P, and like Magda, I have a hunch, entirely speculatively, that the ultimate target of this questioning of official (Hutton) reasons for the death of Dr David Kelly may be Tony Blair.

However, this may purely be factional positioning, and there may be no need for the trigger to be pulled and the bullet fired at Blair. The existence of a loaded gun pointed at his head may be enough to achieve whatever this black op is designed to achieve.

Alternately, as per the peice above, it may be Iraq. But there is no particular reason to demonize Iraq now.

:hello:

Michael Howard backs calls for inquest into death of David Kelly

Former Conservative leader says 'growing number of questions' have emerged over death of weapons expert in 2003

The former Conservative leader Michael Howard today backed calls for a a full inquest into the death of the government weapons expert Dr David Kelly.

His call came after a group of prominent experts described the official explanation for the scientist's death in 2003 as "extremely unlikely".

Howard, who is now a Tory peer, said their intervention confirmed his belief that there should now be a proper inquest.

"In view of the growing number of relevant questions that have arisen and cast doubt on the conclusions reached by Lord Hutton, I believe it would now be appropriate for a full inquest to be held," he told the Mail on Sunday.

"Recent evidence by the first police officer on the scene, together with new statements by doctors, raise serious questions which should be considered. This has been on my mind for quite a while, and recent events have crystallised my view."

Kelly's body was found in woods near his Oxfordshire home in July 2003 after he was identified as the source of a BBC story claiming the government "sexed up" its dossier on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

In the outcry that followed, Tony Blair appointed Lord Hutton to head a public inquiry into Kelly's death. Unusually, the then lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, ruled it should also act as an inquest.

Hutton concluded that Kelly had taken his own life and that the principal cause of death was "bleeding from incised wounds to his left wrist which Dr Kelly had inflicted on himself with the knife found beside his body".

He also found that the scientist took an overdose of coproxamol tablets ‑ a painkiller commonly used for arthritis ‑ and had been suffering from an undiagnosed heart condition.

However, in a letter to the Times last week, the eight experts insisted the conclusion was unsafe. They argued that a severed ulnar artery, the wound found to Kelly's wrist, was unlikely to be life-threatening unless an individual had a blood-clotting deficiency.

The signatories included Michael Powers, a former coroner, Margaret Bloom, a former deputy coroner, and Julian Bion, a professor of intensive care medicine.

Howard's intervention comes as the attorney general, Dominic Grieve, and the justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, are said to be exploring how best to allay concerns over the official version of Kelly's death.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/...ly-inquest

[Peter Presland]

Very very spooky.

Alternately, as per the peice above, it may be Iraq. But there is particular reason to demonize Iraq now.

The 'blame Iraq' meme is not new. Norman Baker spoke to Spertzel by phone several times whilst researching his book and quotes him several times in it. He did not say that Spertzel had made that 'on a hit list' claim but, in light of the article above, and having concluded that ir could not have been suicide, that is clearly where his own speculation about Iraqi agents being responsible comes from.

My own little speculation from post #16 stands:

My own gut feeling about Kelly's murder is that the US SIS's were the instigators - probably without MI5/6 knowledge to make their message doubly clear. It's a vastly complex area but, having read Norman Baker's book (he blames the Iraqi's BTW) and most of the other public domain stuff, my best shot is that the wavering Limeys were 'made an offer they couldn't refuse' with David Kelly's silencing the opportunistic clincher.

Pure speculation I know - but it does have a certain ring to it in keeping with what we know of their modus operandi

... and that in spite of Pederson apparently joining the chorus for a new Inquiry/Inquest.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Letter in The Guardian:

It is not a question of whether there should or should not be a proper inquest into Dr David Kelly's death (Editorial, 17 August). This is not a matter for debate. The laws of this country state very clearly that there must be an inquest into any death occurring in the manner in which Dr Kelly is said to have died.

Further, before a suicide verdict can be returned, it must be proved beyond reasonable doubt that the deceased intended to kill himself. In the absence of a suicide note, it is extremely difficult to achieve this level of proof. Anyone who examines the transcripts of the evidence heard by Lord Hutton can see that the required level of proof was not attained, even if Lord Hutton had heard evidence under oath, which he crucially did not.

Further, Lord Falconer inappropriately invoked Section 17a of the 1988 Coroners' Act, "ordering" the coroner Nicholas Gardiner to "adjourn indefinitely" his inquest into Dr Kelly's death on 13 August 2003. This intervention by the then lord chancellor surely constituted a blatant subversion of due process of the law.

In the case of Dr Kelly, the suicide verdict of Lord Hutton is clearly unsafe and may represent one of the gravest miscarriages of justice ever to occur in this country. A suicide verdict effectively closes the case for ever, and if the deceased was in fact murdered stops the search for the murderer(s). A suicide verdict should not be reached lightly, and if there is any doubt the coroner should return an open verdict.

The fact that no inquest has been held into Dr David Kelly's death is nothing less than a national disgrace, particularly when one recalls the context in which his death took place.

Dr Stephen Frost

Colwyn Bay, Clwyd

[Peter Presland]

Home Office Pathologist - appointed through the vetting processes required of senior establishment positions - IOW, in addition to the necessary professional qualifications and experience, he will have been considered 'sound'. Rank position and place are important ... etc etc.

Also, our shiny idealistic new ministers are gradually being initiated into the higher degrees of 'permanent government'. They are having to decide between continued shiny idealism and the seductive possiblities of initiation to even higher degrees. No prizes for guessing which most will choose - with Dominic Grieve QC (Magdalen College Oxford - an establishment clone if ever there was one) least of all likely to value any principle beyond power for its own sake.

For all those reasons, this is educational and thus added as part of the overall picture. From the BBC too - who else?:

The death of Iraq weapons expert David Kelly was a "textbook case" of suicide according to the pathologist who performed the post-mortem examination.
A group of doctors has questioned the suicide verdict by the Hutton Inquiry in 2004 and called for a full inquest.
But Nicholas Hunt said the scientist's death, after he was exposed as the source for a BBC story, was a "classic case of self-inflicted injury".
He told the Sunday Times he would, however, welcome a full inquest.
Dr Kelly's body was found in woods close to his Oxfordshire home in 2003, shortly after it was revealed that he provided the information for a story casting doubt on the government's claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction capable of being fired within 45 minutes.
Instead of a coroner's inquest, then Prime Minister Tony Blair asked Lord Hutton to conduct an investigation, which found Dr Kelly died from blood loss after slashing his wrist with a blunt gardening knife.
'Nothing to hide' The details of the post-mortem examination are subject to a 70-year gagging order, and it is understood this is the first time Mr Hunt, who gave evidence at the Hutton Inquiry, has spoken out in defence of his findings.
Mr Hunt told the Sunday Times that during the eight-hour examination he found no signs of murder.
"I felt very, very sorry for David Kelly and the way he had been treated by the government... I had every reason to look for something untoward and would dearly love to have found something," the Home Office pathologist said.
"It was an absolute classic case of self-inflicted injury. You could illustrate a textbook with it.
"If it were anyone else and you were to suggest there's something foul about it, you would be referred for additional training. I would welcome an inquest, I've nothing to hide."
There have been a number of calls for the case to be reopened, most recently from a group of eight doctors who claimed Lord Hutton's conclusions were unsafe.
Earlier this month, they argued the wound to Dr Kelly's wrist was unlikely to have been fatal unless he was suffering from a blood-clotting deficiency.
Their view appears to be supported by the detective who found his body when he said he did not see "much blood" in the vicinity.
But Mr Hunt said: "In actual fact there were big, thick clots of blood inside the sleeve, which came down over the wrist, and a lot of blood soaked into the ground.
"They might not have seen it, but it was there and I noted it in my report."
Mr Hunt told the paper that two of Dr Kelly's main coronary arteries were 70-80% narrower than normal, and his heart disease was so severe that he could have "dropped dead" at any minute.
"With David Kelly, there were three factors that contributed to his death. If you have narrower arteries, your ability to withstand blood loss falls dramatically," he said.
"Your heart also becomes more vulnerable to anything that could cause it to become unstable, such as stress - which I have no doubt he was under massively - and the overdose."
In his report, Mr Hunt found Dr Kelly had taken an overdose of the painkiller co-proxamol but the toxicology reports have also come under scrutiny from those who do not believe the scientist committed suicide.
New evidence The doctors have called for material from the post-mortem examination to be released, and Lord Hutton has said he does not have any objection to them seeing it.
The peer said in January that the purpose of the secrecy order, made at the conclusion of his inquiry, had been to avoid causing distress to Dr Kelly's family.
Attorney General Dominic Grieve told the Daily Telegraph last week that those who felt "Lord Hutton did not tie up every loose end may have a valid point".
But he said he could not apply to the High Court for an inquest on a "hunch" and would have to be shown new evidence before doing so.

[Paul Rigby]

There has been an entirely spontaneous outbreak of simultaneous voodoo-ism among columnists working for the MI6 Guardian-Observer front:

I won't waste your time with the conspiracy theories that person or persons unknown murdered him. David Aaronovitch tells you all you need to know about their idiocies in Voodoo Histories, his magisterial destruction of conspiracy theory.

Nick Likud, “The media's part in the death of David Kelly: The BBC, the press and politicians betrayed the MoD scientist. Trying to blame Tony Blair is ridiculous”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/...r-iraq-wmd

But even if he was murdered, as David Aaranovitch asks in his demolition of the conspiracy theory (in Voodoo Histories, Cape £8.99), cui bono? (to whose benefit?). Not Tony Blair and his colleagues, who were accused of hounding Kelly to his grave. A shadowy band of Iraqi exiles who were vengeful because he had exposed the feeble case for war against Saddam Hussein? If so around half the witnesses at the Chilcot inquiry must be expecting the assassin's knock any day soon.

Simon Legover, “When Kelly conspiracy theorists met, it was murder: David Kelly's death shows our infinite ability to place significance on any data that may help our case while ignoring the rest”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/20...avid-kelly

[Peter Lemkin]

Doctors call for David Kelly inquest

Group to seek full inquest into 2003 death of scientist who cast doubt on government's claims over Iraq weapons

David Batty and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 4 September 2010 13.22 BST

The doctors are to submit legal papers to the attorney general, Dominic Grieve (L), requesting his authorisation to seek an inquest into the death of David Kelly ®. Photograph: Katie Collins/PA

A group of doctors is making a fresh bid to force an inquest into the death of the weapons inspector David Kelly.

Legal papers are expected to be submitted to the attorney general, Dominic Grieve, by the end of next week, requesting his authorisation for the five doctors to go to the high court to seek a full inquest into the 2003 death of the scientist.

If Grieve refuses to grant the authorisation, his decision could be subject to a high court appeal.

The doctors have conducted a long-running campaign to overturn the decision of the then lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, to suspend an inquest before the Hutton inquiry into the circumstances of Kelly's death. The inquest was not resumed after Hutton's report in 2004 concluded that Kelly killed himself by cutting an artery in his wrist.

His body was found in woods near his Oxfordshire home shortly after it was revealed he had been the source of a BBC report casting doubt on the government's claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction that could be fired within 45 minutes.

The latest move was prompted by an interview given last month by pathologist Nicholas Hunt, who carried out an autopsy on Kelly's body.

Hunt told the Sunday Times that he regarded the case as a "textbook" suicide and disclosed details from his postmortem report, which the Hutton inquiry ordered should be kept secret for 70 years.

He found "big clots" of blood on the inside of Kelly's jacket, contrary to reports that there had been little blood at the scene. There were about a dozen cuts on his left wrist, including shallower cuts made before the main incisions.

Kelly's heart disease was so advanced that he could have died at any moment, according to the report.

Barrister Michael Powers QC, who is acting for the group of doctors, said Hunt's comments gave weight to their argument that Hutton's inquiry did not represent a sufficient examination of the cause of Kelly's death.

Powers said: "The media has now presented evidence which we have never had before. The fact that he felt it necessary to go to the press and say these things proves to us that the inquiry was insufficient."

The doctors are awaiting a decision from the justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, as to whether the ruling should be overturned to allow them to see the report.

They insist an inquest is needed to clear up any doubt over whether he was the victim of foul play.

Grieve has called for papers relating to Kelly's death and is considering whether he should himself order an inquest.

But Powers said: "We can't wait indefinitely for the government to make a decision. Hence the decision to lay formal papers."