Is there a link between the Downing Street Memo and the death of David Kelly?
Kelly was the Ministry of Defence employee who created a firestorm when he told BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan about his doubts concerning claims being made by the British government viz. Iraq and WMD.
With the release of the Downing Street Memo, this possibly casts a new light on the mysterious death of Dr. David Kelly.
More after the break -->
A lot of people feel that David Kelly did not commit suicide in 2003, for a variety of reasons. For starters, in 1999, David Kelly joined the Baha'i Faith, which expressly prohibits suicide. Paramedics at the scene of his death reported that they did not feel there was enough blood at the scene to warrant the idea that Kelly had slit his wrists.
How does the Downing Street Memo fit in? Well, as we all know, on July 23, 2002, several members of the British government, intelligence and defence institutions met to discuss the Iraq situation. A key line from this meeting is
"We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force."
Around August of 2002, a claim was made that Saddam Hussein was capable of launching a WMD attack within 45 minutes. This claim made it into the offical dossier that David Kelly was proofread.
On May 22, 2003, Kelly met with Andrew Gilligan and told him of his doubts about the claim that Hussein could launch an attack in 45 minutes. Kelly attributed the claim to Alistair Campbell, Tony Blair's Director of Communications. A week later, Gilligan broadcast his report, stating that the "45 minute claim" had been inserted into the report by the British government, even though they knew the claim to be dubious.
A political scandal broke out over the "sexed up" dossier. Attention soon fell on Kelly as the source. On June 30, 2003, he wrote his line manager that he had talked to Gilligan, but that he did not feel that he was the primary source. Two weeks later, Kelly appeared before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.
On July 17, Kelly was found dead near his home. On January 28, 2004, the Hutton Inquiry made the finding that Kelly had committed suicide.
The Downing Street Memo is becoming a bit of a Rosetta Stone, as it is a piece of evidence that is exposing many things (such as untruthful statements made by the Bush Administration in 2002 as they built up to war in Iraq).
One could easily make a case that the British government used information they also knew to be dubious in order to create a "legal" case to go to war and support the United States, who were already building up the war machine.
David Kelly knew the evidence was dubious. Unfortunately, he was yet another victim in this mindless conflict.