[THS] Dr. David Kelly: Doubts Grow In Whistle-blower Suicide

[The Harder Stuff in news and commentary]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25853.htm

Doubts Grow In Whistle-blower "Suicide"

By Alex Newman

June 30, 2010 "New American" --  New revelations in the suspicious “suicide” death
of whistle-blower Dr. David Kelly point even more strongly to the possibility of murder
and a subsequent cover-up, according to an explosive investigation by the British
newspaper Daily Mail.

David Kelly served as a United Nations weapons-of-mass-destruction inspector in Iraq
and as a scientist for the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense. He was widely
considered the world’s foremost expert in chemical and biological weapons, even
serving as a proof reader on the British government’s intelligence report about Iraqi
WMDs. He disagreed with some of the claims and told his superiors, but was ignored.

Seven years ago, a strange saga began when Kelly sparked a massive scandal. He
leaked details of the government’s WMD lies — used to justify invading Iraq — to
various journalists. His identity was eventually revealed as the source, and Parliament
called him to testify for an investigation it was conducting into the explosive
allegations. Then, before he could reveal even more devastating secrets, he turned
up dead.

The government, led by Prime Minister Tony Blair, immediately quashed the regular
coroner’s inquest — a legal requirement in cases like this. Instead, it set up a much
weaker “inquiry,” headed by Lord Hutton, into the untimely death.

But as soon as the "investigation" concluded that Kelly’s demise was a “suicide”
caused by a self-inflicted knife wound, the media began picking the story apart,
pointing out inconsistencies and asking tough questions that still have not been
answered satisfactorily — if they were addressed at all. The inquiry has been labeled
a “whitewash” and a “cover-up” by numerous media outlets, investigators, doctors,
and researchers.

The two paramedics who were at the scene of Kelly’s body went public with their
belief that a severed artery was not the cause of death, as the official report had
claimed. "I just think it is incredibly unlikely that he died from the wrist wound we
saw," paramedic Vanessa Hunt told the British press. “There just wasn't a lot of
blood. When someone cuts an artery, whether accidentally or intentionally, the blood
pumps everywhere." The other paramedic offered a similar analysis.

A team of concerned scientists and doctors also banded together to form the “Kelly
Investigation Group.” They, too, believed there were serious deficiencies in the
inquiry, saying the official conclusion was “highly improbable.”

“Arteries in the wrist are of matchstick thickness and severing them does not lead to
life-threatening blood loss,” three members of the group, all medical specialists,
wrote in a letter to the Guardian newspaper calling for the inquest to be re-opened.
“To have died from haemorrhage [sic], Dr Kelly would have had to lose about five
pints of blood — it is unlikely that he would have lost more than a pint.”

The team also noted that the alleged amount of pain pills Kelly was said to have
ingested would not have contributed to his death. Only a part of one tablet was
actually found in his stomach.

Adding more doubt to the official story, documents obtained through a Freedom of
Information request showed there were no finger prints on the knife Kelly supposedly
used to kill himself.

"Someone who wanted to kill themselves wouldn't go to the lengths of wiping the
knife clean of fingerprints,” said British Minister of Parliament and current
Transportation Secretary Norman Baker, who wrote a book about Kelly claiming he
was killed because he might reveal more about the lies used in the run-up to the
invasion of Iraq. "It is just very suspicious. It is one of the things that makes me think
Dr. Kelly was murdered. The case should be re-opened."

A police spokesperson acknowledged the lack of fingerprints, but said it  “does not
change the official explanation.”

Suspicions in the case grew even more after it was revealed earlier this year that
documents in the official investigation had been secretly classified by the British
government for an astonishing 70 years, an unprecedented move that fanned the
flames of skepticism. All medical, scientific, and photographic records were totally
sealed by Lord Hutton, including the post mortem.

“This inexplicable secrecy can excite only suspicion that the authorities have
something very bad indeed to hide,” noted Melanie Phillips in a report for the Daily
Mail. “I myself have met people familiar with the shadowy world in which Dr Kelly
moved who are certain he was murdered.” Another Daily Mail article reported that
the legal basis for the gag order “has baffled experts accustomed to such matters.”

Researchers have raised countless problems with the “official” story — too many to
go over in detail in one article. But some of the new information collected by the Daily
Mail in a more recent article entitled “Dr David Kelly: The damning new evidence that
points to a cover-up by Tony Blair's government” is worth recounting.

“Our new revelations include the ambiguous nature of the wording on Dr Kelly’s
death certificate; the existence of an anonymous letter which says his colleagues
were warned to stay away from his funeral; and an extraordinary claim that the
wallpaper at Dr Kelly’s home was stripped by police in the hours after he was
reported missing - but before his body was found,” the paper reported, noting that
its “rigorous and thorough investigation” had “turned up evidence which raises still
more disturbing questions.”

The death certificate, only recently obtained, used peculiar wording in the box meant
for entering the place of death. Instead of naming it, the certificate said Kelly was
“found dead” at Harrowdown Hill. Experts say the wording alone is enough to open
another investigation, especially since there are numerous other irregularities
involving the location of Kelly’s body (like heat-sensing helicopters that, based on the
official story, should have found the body when flying over).

The death certificate also states that a coroner’s inquest was performed. But it
wasn’t. It also lacks a doctor’s or coroner’s signature, something all death certificates
in the U.K. are required to have.

"This death certificate is evidence of a failure properly to examine the cause of Dr
Kelly’s death. It is evidence of a pre-judgment of the issue. In a coroner’s inquest the
cause of death would not be registered until the whole inquiry had been completed.
As we see here, the cause of death was registered before the Hutton Inquiry had
finished,” said former coroner and law expert Dr. Michael Powers QC, who aims to
have a thorough investigation conducted.

“This is remarkable,” he told the paper. “To my mind it is evidence that the inquiry
into Dr Kelly’s death was window-dressing because the conclusion had already been
determined.”

On top of the Hutton Inquiry’s many obvious shortcomings, a letter received last
month by one of the doctors involved in the Kelly Investigation Group claims Kelly’s
colleagues were warned not to attend his funeral. Kelly’s widow also said police came
to the house and tore off wallpaper, possibly searching for listening devices, shortly
after Kelly was reported missing, but prior to the discovery of his body. Authorities
refuse to comment on the allegation.

The doctors investigating the suspicious death said “concern about Dr Kelly’s death
will continue to deepen until a full coroner’s inquest is heard,” the Daily Mail
reported, adding that if such an inquest is performed, Tony Blair might well be
expected to testify about why he “went to such lengths to avoid the normal, rigorous
and respected course of this country’s law.”

Concluding, the paper noted that Blair’s reputation, as well as the reputation of the
British legal system, will continue to suffer until a proper investigation is conducted,
which “is the only way the whole truth about the Kelly affair, however uncomfortable,
will emerge.”

Now, after all these years, there are hints that the truth may finally come out. The
new British Attorney General announced earlier this month that he is considering re-
opening the investigation. Meanwhile, the new Justice Secretary is reportedly
contemplating releasing some of the records in the case that currently remain
classified. Whether it will happen has been a matter of intense speculation in the
British press, but if these crucial questions are ever to be resolved, a proper
investigation is a must.