UK seals documents about suicide of weapons inspector David Kelly for 70 years

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5goGhY_XNsqqrr2YR5j3pP24avumw

by JeremyBanks • 17 years ago

96 38 17 years ago

njs12345• 17 years ago

This is why we need Wikileaks..

Silhouette3• 17 years ago

Wikileaks isn't the answer to problems like this. If you have to rely on a dubiously ethical web site that tries to position itself outside the law, some pretty fundamental things have already gone wrong.

For a start, we have to ask why the legal power exists to seal records in this way, who has the authority to order such seals, and what kind of oversight exists to make independent determinations about whether such seals are in the public interest.

jacquesm7• 17 years ago

> For a start, we have to ask why the legal power exists to seal records in this way

That is exactly the key.

The fact that a government can put itself above any sort of public inquiry for 70 years is completely counter to what any respectable democracy should stand for.

gruseom• 17 years ago

Yes, but in the meantime, let's have Wikileaks.

cabalamat2• 17 years ago

> Wikileaks isn't the answer to problems like this.

In an ideal world, we wouldn't need Wikileaks.

In the world we have, Wikileaks is a valuable resource.

CamperBob2• 17 years ago

If you have to rely on a dubiously ethical web site that tries to position itself outside the law, some pretty fundamental things have already gone wrong.

Correct. I pay Wikileaks to be explicitly unethical, for that very reason.

It's like someone said elsewhere in the thread: if governments have nothing to hide, then they have nothing to fear, right?

hristov2• 17 years ago

Unfortunately, somebody has to leak it first. People that have things to hide are really good at leak control.

The article says that they prevented an ordinary police inquest from taking place in order to have their "special" investigation. This means that the people that were doing the investigating were probably carefully selected. If there was a normal police inquest chances are there would be at least one honest cop or DA that would leak the stuff. But now it is doubtful.

jacquesm7• 17 years ago

So much for a transparant UK government I guess.

David Kelly is one of the first victims of the Iraq war, and I really don't give a rats ass about any government whitewash operation until they come clean with all the documents they've got.

Until then it should simply be classified as a murder.

Also, Dr. Kelly was right in every aspect of his criticism in the run-up to the war and he should be remembered as one of the very few voices of reason in England during that period.

The blood of this man is on the hands of Tony Blair.

more here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1245599/David-Kelly-...

cabalamat2• 17 years ago

I used to think the death of David Kelly was suicide.

Now I am not sure. If there wasn't something highly dubious going on, why would the government keep it secret for 70 years?

jacquesm7• 17 years ago

I lost a lot of confidence in governments in general when the French authorities decided to blow up the Greenpeace boat and ended up killing a civilian.

Governments can and do operate clandestinely, the only real question is how much.

David Kelly's death came at a very good time for the British Government, he had already proven to be willing to go public with potentially very damning information.

My take on it was that he would have continued to make plain his findings until either the British participation in the Iraq war would have become untenable or there would have been a government crisis.

The interesting part is that after all the dust settled it all seemed to boil down to the exact definition of what it means when a report is 'sexed up', as vague a term as you could want to have for that purpose.

Apparently 'selecting evidence that is convenient whilst leaving out that which is inconvenient' is not enough.

ftghyujkjmhnbg2• 17 years ago

If you read the article it isn't the suicide verdict that is sealed it is other evidence given tot he inquiry but not published. So perhaps the name of the CIA/Mi5/RAC agents that reported there were weapons, the names of current Iraqi politicians that were working for CIA/MI5/RAC.

70 years is nothing - there are still cabinet meetings from the Napoleonic wars that are sealed.

jacquesm7• 17 years ago

Thanks to the moderator that decided to recycle this posting from the 'dead' pool.

JeremyBanks• 17 years ago

This was dead? Do you know if it was auto-killed or flagged out?

jacquesm7• 17 years ago

It looked like it had to be flagged out because at the time it already had 10+ votes.

So an editor had to have killed it and another had to restore it. Weird. I can see why though, it is a purely political piece.

Either that or I'm seeing things :)

tjic• 17 years ago

I've read allegations that David Kelly's rapid turn around from saying that there were WMDs present to arguing that there were none present was the result of blackmail over evidence of him being sexually involved with an aide.

Googling on "David Kelly blackmail" gives thousands of hits.

Here's one:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-490216/Sex-drugs-bla...

CamperBob2• 17 years ago

COINTELPRO's just phoning it in these days, I guess.

nik61• 17 years ago

This reference has nothing to do with Kelly at all. Read it.

sailormoon• 17 years ago

You're kidding. Does this mean that people with something to hide can act to protect their secrets by traducing would-be whistleblowers?

This changes .. everything.

tarkin2• 17 years ago

That link isn't even related to David Kelly.

vaksel• 17 years ago

funny how "if you have nothing to hide" never applies to gov't.

runn1ng2• 17 years ago

I will add that according to some, this death has something to do with Bahá'í faith/cult - more info here http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/Kelly.htm and in this documentary -

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-760569989112215408 Part1, http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1716751462345868958 part 2

runn1ng2• 17 years ago

Somehow the first part is in Arbic... I am on iPhone now and not actually able to find english version now... but I guess someone else will. Maybe

mark_l_watson• 17 years ago

The book "The Sovereign Individual" (published at least 10 years ago) predicted that the UK, then the USA would transition into much less free countries as their economies started to unravel. The authors also wrote a book predicting the fall of the Berlin Wall a few years before that event happened.

I view the political BS and general war-mongering in both countries to be a cover for those in power not wanting to confront very serious economic problems. Something to distract people, etc.

illumen• 17 years ago

'War is the cause of the economic problems.' That is likely another possibility.

Massive spending, along with intellectual & political effort going towards something which takes away value - this is war.

ronnier• 17 years ago

This may be off topic, but I was working with David Kelly's brother when he found out his brother died. After watching the news, I then realized how well known and important his brother was.

jacquesm7• 17 years ago

Not only that, he also was one of the very few men involved in the run up to the Iraq war that actually had a conscience.

I've read a lot about him and he strikes me as a really good human being and we are poorer for having lost him.

david927• 17 years ago

To die from blood loss, you have to bleed out at least 40% of your total blood volume, which would be approximately 2 liters (normal blood volume is 4-5L). The paramedics reported very little blood at the Kelly scene. The knife, which was alleged to belonged to Kelly, had no fingerprints on it.

UK seals documents about suicide of weapons inspector David Kelly for 70 years

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