<font color=blue> It looks like Blair, Bush's "poodle", is going down. A "respected member" of his own party is calling for his resignation. I think the Brits want him out.
One almost down and one to go!<font color=black>
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Jul. 20, 2003. 08:34 AM
MARTIN CLEAVER/AP
British newspapers yesterday trumpet the death and controversy involving former Iraq weapons inspector Dr.David Kelly.
Blair hit hard by suicide scandal
PM and ministers under pressure to resign over death
Stressed scientist believed to have slashed his wrist
SANDRO CONTENTA
EUROPEAN BUREAU
LONDON—A visibly shaken Prime Minister Tony Blair has pleaded for restraint while facing tough questions about "blood on his hands" in the apparent suicide of a leading British government scientist.
Already reeling under the biggest political crisis of his premiership, the pressure on Blair increased significantly yesterday when a respected member of his own Labour party, former cabinet minister Glenda Jackson, called for his resignation.
But perhaps the biggest blow came from the grieving family of David Kelly, a scientist caught up in charges that Blair's office doctored intelligence about Iraq's weapons. They made clear that Blair and his government should consider the role they played in making his life "intolerable."
Police confirmed yesterday that Kelly, a 59-year microbiologist, bled to death from a slash on his left wrist.
A knife and a packet of painkillers were found next to his body, discovered Friday morning in a wooded patch near his Oxfordshire home in central England.
Police have not officially confirmed it was suicide, but British newspapers are either stating it as a fact, or citing unnamed sources that confirm it.
In a statement read by police yesterday, Kelly's family described the internationally renowned weapons expert as the victim of a political war between the government and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) over Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.
"Events over recent weeks have made David's life intolerable, and all of those involved should reflect long and hard on this fact," the family said.
The government had suspected Kelly of being the unnamed source in a BBC story alleging that Blair's office "sexed up" intelligence on Iraq to strengthen the case for war. Kelly admitted he had spoken to the radio reporter involved, but denied he gave the explosive information.
The widespread charges against key members of Blair's government is that they were so determined to win their "vendetta" against the BBC that they "outed" Kelly as the source for the story, triggering a chain of events that led to his suicide.
The Sunday Times today published an interview it said Kelly gave them days before his death. They say he complained of being betrayed when the ministry of defence, his employer, told him he would be identified.
In an e-mail Kelly sent to a New York Times reporter just hours before his death, he wrote of being haunted by "many dark actors playing games."
Blair, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon and Blair's powerful director of communications, Alastair Campbell, are being bombarded with questions about whether they will resign.
In interviews published in today's British papers, Jackson is scathing in her criticism of how the government managed the row with the BBC. She called on Blair, Hoon and Campbell to "bite the bullet" and resign.
"I cannot, for the life of me, see what benefit they are bringing either to our country or my party by remaining in office after this shameful and disgraceful episode," she told the Mail on Sunday.
She said the episode would paralyze the Blair government if he clings to power.
The news of Kelly's death reached Blair as he was flying to Tokyo from Washington, where he had delivered a triumphant address before a joint session of the U.S. Congress.
At a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, a shattered-looking Blair answered questions in a voice quivering with emotion.
Asked by a British reporter if Kelly's death was on his conscience, Blair called on politicians and the media to await the outcome of a judicial inquiry he has ordered before drawing conclusions.
"I think in the meantime we should show respect and restraint, and let me express once again my deep sorrow for the tragedy that has come about."
Asked if he or any of his ministers should resign, Blair said: "I don't think it's right for anyone, ourselves or anybody else, to make a judgment until we have the facts."
Finally, one British reporter shouted out: "Have you got blood on your hands, Prime Minister? Are you going to resign over this?"
Blair froze. He stood uncomfortable and silent at the lectern for what must have seemed like the longest 30 seconds of his political career, until Koizumi called a merciful end to the press conference.
In London, Hoon faced a similar grilling.
Asked on BBC television if he would resign if it turns out his actions precipitated Kelly's suicide, Hoon said: "All of us have been looking very carefully at our involvement in these events and certainly I will look carefully at the results of the (judicial) inquiry."
One of the key questions the judicial inquiry will investigate is who "outed" Kelly as the possible source for a BBC radio story May 29. The story quoted an unnamed British official saying that a government intelligence dossier on Iraq's weapons was "sexed up" to make a more convincing case for war.
Some fingers are pointing at Hoon, who was Kelly's boss.
Defence officials made public on July 8 that a ministry official had come forward to say he had spoken to the BBC reporter who broadcast the story. Kelly wasn't named, but the Guardian newspaper reported yesterday that ministry officials "effectively outed" Kelly by giving out such precise clues about his identity that journalists easily narrowed in on him as the source.
The Mail on Sunday today quotes Pam Teare, director of news at the defence ministry, saying she confirmed to journalists that Kelly was the source if his name was put to her.
On July 9, Hoon named Kelly in a letter to the BBC, and asked if he was the source for the story. Shortly thereafter, his name was published in the Times.
It's believed that Campbell, Blair's right-hand man, approved the strategy to challenge the BBC with Kelly. If so, it raises questions about whether Blair was involved in that decision.
"I'm not aware that his name was leaked," Hoon said when asked if his officials gave Kelly's name to journalists. "It was certainly not leaked by me, and I assure you that we made great efforts to ensure Dr. Kelly's anonymity."
Kelly was then called to testify before an all-party legislative committee, where he said he did not believe he was the source for the BBC story.
Committee members described him as "the fall guy" used by the government to divert attention from the real question — whether it had exaggerated intelligence information.
The British press coverage made clear yesterday how impossible it might be for Blair to wait for the results of the inquiry, expected to take several weeks, before someone in his government pays the price.
"Never since parliamentary democracy emerged in this country has the machinery of government been so corrupted by the rule of fear," the Daily Telegraph said in an editorial.
The Daily Mail accused the government of using Kelly as bait in its bid to pressure the BBC into naming its source, and called for Campbell and Hoon's resignations.
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