News and Document archive source
copyrighted material disclaimer at bottom of page

NewsMinewar-on-terroriraqpretextdavid-kelly — Viewing Item


Kelly said his life was in danger { August 21 2003 }

Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
   http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3316501

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3316501

Iraq Weapons Expert Predicted 'Death in Woods'
Thu August 21, 2003 12:05 PM ET
By Dominic Evans

LONDON (Reuters) - Iraq weapons expert David Kelly eerily predicted his death six months ago, telling a British diplomat that if Baghdad was attacked he would be found "dead in the woods," the inquiry into his death revealed on Thursday.

The premonition was recounted at the investigation into the suicide of Kelly, sucked into the heart of a row over whether Prime Minister Tony Blair's inner circle hyped evidence about Iraq's weapons capability to win support for the war.

Blair is due to testify to the hearing next week and the inquiry is expected to finishing taking evidence late next month, judge Lord Hutton announced on Thursday.

Kelly, a former Iraq weapons inspector whose body was found in woodlands near his home last month, told diplomat David Broucher in February he advised Iraqi officials that if they cooperated with the inspectors "they would have nothing to fear."

"The implication was if the invasion went ahead, that would make him a liar and he would have betrayed his contacts, some of whom might be killed as a result of his actions," Broucher told the inquiry probing the death of the weapons expert.

Broucher said he asked Kelly what would happen if Iraq were attacked. "His reply was, which I took to be a throwaway remark: 'I will be found dead in the woods."'

"I thought he might have meant that he was at risk of being attacked by the Iraqis in some way," Broucher said.

But he added that Kelly, described by one of his former bosses as a man "welded to the truth," believed that the invasion "might go ahead anyway and that somehow this put him in a morally ambiguous position."

COMPELLING EVIDENCE

Less than a month after his conversation with the diplomat, U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein, saying Saddam had failed a last chance to prove he had scrapped his weapons of mass destruction programs.

Four months after Saddam's overthrow, no such weapons have been found in Iraq, raising doubts over Washington and London's case for military action.

Broucher said Kelly, who was the source for a BBC reporter's accusations that Blair's government "sexed up" a dossier making the case for war, believed British intelligence services had come under pressure to produce compelling evidence.

"He said there had been a lot of pressure to make the dossier as robust as possible, that every judgment (in the dossier) had been robustly fought over," he said.

The most dramatic section of the September dossier said Saddam had chemical and biological weapons that could be unleashed within 45 minutes.

But Broucher said Kelly, a microbiologist and biological weapons specialist, appeared unconvinced.

"He felt if the Iraqis had any bio-weapons left they would not have very much," he told the inquiry.

Broucher also said Kelly told him the deadly poisons "would be kept separately from the munitions and that this meant that the weapons could not be used quickly."



Bbc reveals it has key tape
Bbc says scientist source { July 20 2003 }
Blair aide campbell to expose kelly
Blair appears before inquiry into kelly death { August 28 2003 }
Blair in crisis
Blair rocked by whistle blower death
Blair to testify kelly case
Blair wants apology from bbc
Body found british weapons advisor
British defence to destroy media plan
Crucial questions kelly death
David kelly testimony { July 15 2003 }
David kelly [jpg]
Eight hours before kelly body found
Electric pads suggest recent test
Electrodes on chest unusual { August 1 2003 }
Inquest to resolve kelly suicude riddle
Kelly could not have died from suicide paramedics claim
Kelly death details
Kelly evidence iraq dirty bomb { August 4 2003 }
Kelly inquest is shut closed { March 16 2004 }
Kelly mysterious electro pads { August 1 2003 }
Kelly said his life was in danger { August 21 2003 }
Kelly was key
Medics cast doubt on kelly suicide verdict
Medics raise kelly death doubts { December 12 2004 }
Murder of david kelly ftw 1
Murder of david kelly ftw 2
Murder spoils blairs plans { July 19 2003 }
New questions over death of david kelly { June 2006 }
Off the cutt remark sent the bbc reeling { January 31 2004 }
Paramedics challenge lord hutton over kelly death
Russian colleague doubts kelly committed suicide
Scientist bled from slashed wrist
Scientist inquiry could topple senior figures
Scientists death fuels british intelligence row { July 20 2003 }
Three doctors dispute kellys death
Top judge clashes with ministers { December 14 2004 }
Warned dark actors playing games
Wide says suicide
Wmd authority turns up dead
Wmd scientist dead { July 18 2003 }

Files Listed: 42



Correction/submissions

CIA FOIA Archive

National Security
Archives
Support one-state solution for Israel and Palestine Tea Party bumper stickers JFK for Dummies, The Assassination made simple