'Govt obsessed with proof'
23/07/2003 20:54  - (SA)  

Want to know more? Answerit can help.

'I did not authorise leak' Blair denies 'leaking' name Kelly: Blair counts cost Kelly: UK press attacks BBC Blair to testify before inquiry

London - The BBC said on Wednesday it had a tape of the late weapons expert David Kelly saying the British government was "obsessed" with finding evidence of Iraq's alleged illegal weapons.

Kelly is believed to have committed suicide last week, days after being questioned by a foreign affairs committee on his role in passing information to the BBC for a story which claimed the government had exaggerated the case for war in Iraq.

Reports said the tape would be handed over to a judicial inquiry into Kelly's death led by senior law lord Brian Hutton. The scientist was found dead in a field near his home in Oxfordshire on Friday.

British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon visited Kelly's widow on Wednesday amid growing criticism of his lack of response to the crisis.

The Financial Times newspaper on Tuesday quoted "government insiders" as saying Hoon had personally allowed the release of Kelly's name into the public domain, contributing to his suicide. Hoon has so far made no public apology.

Obsessed

The BBC tape is said to contain David Kelly's interview with journalist Susan Watts, who repeated his comments without using his name in the television programme Newsnight broadcast on June 2 and 4.

Watts said the source told her the government was "obsessed with finding intelligence on immediate Iraqi threats".

The government's claim that Iraq could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes was a statement that "got out of all proportion", she quoted the source as saying.

After Kelly's death, the BBC confirmed that he was the source for three journalists who had reported on concerns within the intelligence community over the government's policy on Iraq.

The Guardian newspaper said on Wednesday the tape was the reason for the BBC's refusal to back down from the story under pressure from the government.

The row began when BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan cited a source, now known to be Kelly, as saying the government had included the 45-minute claim in its case for the war on Iraq to "make it sexier" against the wishes of the intelligence community. - Sapa-DPA

What is this? Yahoo Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Brought to you by OUTsurance Car Insurance
	News24 Headlines on your Facebook profile		News24 on mobile