UK TV: Hutton inquiry conclusions leaked to Sun, "BLAIR CLEARED"

[tinnypriv]

Breaking:

According to the political editor of The Sun, Tony Blair is "completely cleared of serious criticism" by Lord Hutton regarding the leaking of Dr Kelly's name to the media.

The Sun will be publishing leaked extracts of the report tomorrow.

The report was supposed to be held under unprecendented security.

Note: The Sun's front page tomorrow leads with "Hutton: LEAKED".

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

1. Somebody's gonna be in shit

If "leak proof" Hutton has leaked.

Any money it was No. 10 & the report won't 'completely clear' Blair.

[aquart]

13. Why, that would mean Blair is like Bush.

<shudder>

[legin]

2. Murdoch getting his rewards for supporting blair

The inside track on a major story, as with Fox News being the only news network being invited to bush*'s Thanksgivving jaunt

[montanacowboy]

3. Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

may they all rot in hell

[0007]

4. This is unacceptable - Dammit!!

[madrchsod]

5. who cares? did you check out

the page three girl?? what a paper,serious reporting and naked women.."i`ll by that for a dollar"

[T_i_B]

24. Two knockers, same as usual

The Sun is a particularly dumb pro-Blair RW Murdoch rag and it is probbably the most obnoxious paper we have in the UK, as can be witnessed by the bigoted rantings of it's "star" colummist, Richard Littlejohn.

[Barrett808]

6. Come on -- Britian practically invented the whitewash

Is anybody really surprised?

[pinto]

7. I read that gov't, family and BBC got the only previews....

[Briar]

8. This is why they chose Hutton

He also, apparently, clears Campbell, who was apparently only doing his job when he sexed up the dossier. On the other hand, the BBC comes in for the most criticism and Kelly is blamed for leaking in the first place. A "difficult man to help" apparently.

Just the report Bliar would have wanted: it wins the war he started against the BBC, and by implication clears him of dishonesty in everything, including the 45 minutes claim. There are rumours, I have read, that Hutton may be rewarded with the chairmanship of the JIC...

[w4rma]

12. They "won" a battle. (n/t)

[frank frankly]

9. please, no

no.

[Barrett808]

10. AFP: Blair cleared of "dishonourable conduct" in Kelly affair: report

LONDON (AFP) - A judicial inquiry into the suicide of defence expert David Kelly has cleared British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) and his government of "dishonourable conduct", The Sun newspaper said.

The paper said it had seen extracts of the conclusions of the report by Lord Brian Hutton which is to be made public at 12:30 pm (1230 GMT) on Wednesday, with Blair to make a statement in parliament 90 minutes later.

"Lord Hutton concludes there was no 'dishonourable, underhand or duplicitious strategy' by the government to leak Dr Kelly's name", the Sun, Britain's best-selling newspaper, said.

Kelly, a respected Ministry of Defence expert on biological weapons, killed himself in July soon after he was exposed as the source of a BBC radio report in May which alleged that the government had "sexed up" a September 2002 dossier on Iraq (news - web sites) and weapons of mass destruction.

The Sun said the report -- which Hutton went to great pains to keep under wraps before its publication time -- criticised BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan for failing to put his story to the Ministry of Defence before airing it.

But it added that Hutton's report largely cleared Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon of wrongdoing.

Political analysts had widely expected that Hoon would take the fall for the Kelly affair.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040127/ts_afp/britain_iraq_inquiry&cid=1503&ncid=1480

[warrior1]

11. They insult the Kelly family

by looking like they actually did an investigations. They had the guy killed now they've cover it out.

May the rot in hell.

[stumblnrose]

14. I knew the fix was in

When the Guardian kept saying that Blair kept saying that the next two or three days are the most pivotal in Blair's career. The Guardian is really a watered down yes-boy to the Prime Minister. Read the Independent for a more honest accounting of life across the pond:
http://www.independent.co.uk Blair was on spin-control, so even though his Commons majority was significantly slashed, he and his press make it sound like victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat.
In many ways he is more loathsome than Bush* because of his pretense of ideals. He is very Machiavellian and driven by a Rove-like machine.

[Zhade]

15. God fucking DAMN IT.

He's a WAR CRIMINAL, and he's getting off.

First he wins the tuition fees vote - barely - and now this.

FUCK!

[DoYouEverWonder]

16. If this is true

then there really is no justice any more. How many more will die now that these bastards are getting their free passes to do whatever the hell they please, because no one can or will stop them?

[RainDog]

17. Hutton recommends: "Shoot the Messenger."

Here's the Guardian link.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/hutton/story/0,13822,1132910,00.html

Hutton blames Kelly (conveniently dead) and the BBC.

Nothing was wrong with saying their was an imminent threat.

LOL. You Brits are as corrupt as the Bushwa.

Of course, our boats are tied together in this mess, aren't they?

[althecat]

18. get a load of this though!!! Pathologists Doubt It Was Suicide..

God what an awful report... I expect the Guardian story is accurate... And I really thought Hutton was actually doing his job... he seems to bending over backwards to clear the Govt. of everything.

Too bad, never mind...

But here is a breakthrough...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/hutton/story/0,13822,1132796,00.html

[yellowcanine]

19. No-The article says the pathologists support the suicide finding

Please read the article again - article does not agree with your headline.

[Nihil]

21. No, I'd suggest that you read it again

> Three of the six professors of forensic pathology in Britain
> yesterday said that is was possible Dr Kelly had died after cutting
> his own wrists (sic)
(Emphasis mine but note that only one wrist was cut, not both)

Also note that this the inquest was NOT closed with a suicide
verdict:

> It was adjourned under the 1988 Coroners Act, which allows a public
> inquiry conducted by a judge to fulfil the function of an inquest.

The coroner now has to decide whether to re-open his inquest after the
publication of the Hutton report.

You have fallen victim to the well-laid meme that "Kelly=suicide"
rather than the fact that "Kelly=apparent suicide". In your defence,
you are not the only one and at least you have some personal
background to justify your beliefs.

(I hope that this discussion does not become too painful for you as
some memories should really be left in peace.)

Nihil

[yellowcanine]

26. My header is an accurate reflection of the article

Certainly you can't go from "three of six said it was possible " to "pathologists doubt it was suicide" but it is reasonable to say from that "the pathologists support the suicide finding". The fact that it was only three out of six is not important - the other three haven't said anything on the matter - at least it hasn't been reported. One can hardly expect a pathologist who hasn't actually done the forensic exam to go beyond saying, given the injuries in the medical report, suicide is possible. This was, after all, in response to the letter by three medical specialists who (also without first hand forensic examination) said that suicide was not possible from the reported injuries.

Furthermore, without any physical evidence of foul play, one has to go with the physical evidence of suicide. After all, the man is dead and he died of something. The only physical evidence points to suicide. As for suicide versus apparent suicide, I doubt that a medical examiner ever goes beyond apparent suicide (I don't know this for a fact), unless he has reliable eyewitness testimony or videotape. Somebody, after all, could have held the guy down and done the deed for him. But as far as we know there is no evidence of that. Then there are the pills. The level of medication found was above therapeutic levels so clearly he took some pills. Whether the medication could have killed him or contributed to his death cannot be determined because we don't know when he may have taken the pills and whether his system had already metabolized some of the medication before death. The fact that only a small amount was found in his stomach is not surprising either. Pills in your stomach don't kill you, that is why stomach pumping works.

Look, I have no axe to grind here, other than I don't like to see families put through this kind of public debate about the fate of their loved one. If there are legitimate doubts about the apparent suicide, of course they should be investigated, but the investigation should not take place in the media. The fact that Kelly was a public figure does not make his family and friends "fair game". My last word on this subject.

[Darranar]

20. 'WMD suicide' inquiry clears Blair

'WMD suicide' inquiry clears Blair

A judicial inquiry into the suicide of Iraqi weapons expert David Kelly has cleared the UK government of "dishonourable conduct" but criticised the BBC for broadcasting the news item that triggered a series of events leading to his death.


The Hutton report also clears the UK government of embellishing its September 2002 dossier on Iraq and its elusive weapons of mass destruction, according to The Sun national newspaper.

The tabloid told its readers it had seen extracts of the conclusions of the report which Lord Brian Hutton is to make public at 1230 GMT on Wednesday. Blair is to make a statement in parliament 90 minutes later.

"There was no dishonourable or underhand or duplicitous strategy by the government covertly to leak Dr Kelly's name to the media," the newspaper quoted Hutton as saying in the report.

[dolgoruky]

22. Load of bollocks!

Whether or not the dossier was sexed up, whether or not Blair lied about it, whether or nor Kelly killed himself is not the point. The terrorist attack on Iraq was illegal, and Blair and the rest of those New Labour fuckers are guilty. Who gives a flying fuck about the dossier or the Hutton report?

It's a smokescreen.

End of debate.

[Briar]

25. Now we see why someone leaked this,

someone not far from the Government, let us say. Whether or not Kavanagh's spin is accurate (and Kavanagh's spin is as predictable as the Earth's rotation - he supports the war and loathes the BBC and so is Murdoch's favourite rottweiller, so leaking to him would be certain to produce this effect), this is the story which has been reported all round the world. Any alternative interpretation, coming second, will struggle to gain attention, let alone a revision of the verdict as reported here.

Very, very clever - and very easy to attribute to a likely source.

[Spentastic]

23. Right

So the dossier wasn't "sexed up" but Iraq has no WMD deployable in 45 minutes.

Bullshit Tony, Bullshit.