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"Pay close attention to that man behind the curtain!"

Tuesday, August 12, 2003

Going out on a limb

David Kelly's taped conversation with the BBC hasn't been fully revealed to the public, but the inquiry into his death is supposed to reveal more of its content to us soon.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict what will happen in the next day or two of this inquiry:
1) The tape will vindicate the BBC.
2) The things David Kelly said on the tape will not conflict with what he told the Commons Inquiry before his death when he is said to have "cast doubt on [Gilligan's] version of events." (i.e., I think Kelly chose his words very carefully in that Commons Inquiry)
3) The British government may come out with more blood on its hands than it possibly imagined. (See #1, and imagine what else he might have said about the "dark actors." He may have also named more names than just Campbell "off the record.")
4) Heads will roll, perhaps in the streets of London.
Take a look at these 2 quite opposite articles that came up when I did a Google News search for "David Kelly" about an hour ago:
A) BBC had 'concerns' about the report
B) Dead UK Scientist Believed Iraq Had Few Weapons
Notice how the first article casts doubt on Mr. Gilligan, but in a very "shadowy" way. There's all this talk of questionable "language." What sort of language? Did he regret using the words "sexed up" because it sounds goofier than "exaggerated" or "embellished? That very article seems to be "marred by [the] flawed reporting" it accuses the BBC of using.

Then take a peek at the second article, and notice how it portrays Dr. Kelly's trustworthiness. Also pay attention to these points:
"(Saddam Hussein's weapons) program was small. He couldn't have killed very many people even if everything had gone right for him," said Gilligan, reading notes from his interview with Kelly.

Another section of Gilligan's notes had Kelly referring to "no usable weapons" in Iraq.

Nearly five months after U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq to topple Saddam no weapons of mass destruction have been found, undermining public trust in Blair.
Unfortunately, that second article still says "Kelly slashed his wrist last month" instead of the much more preferable "Kelly was found dead with a slashed wrist." How's that for "questionable language"?
Posted at 11:56 PM by: [Permalink]
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