Blair's Bloody Hands

No matter what results are obtained in the framework of the investigation, Blair's political career is over
The investigation of the suicide of weapons expert Dr.David Kelly is underway. It is expected to be completed by October. And for the time being, the British political leadership is summoned to the Royal Court on Fleet Street. British Defense Secretary Jeoff Hoon was at court yesterday. Today British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to attend the court too.

Hundreds of pacifists waving anti-war and anti-government slogans gathered near the building where Lord Hutton's commission inquiring into David Kelly's death sits, the same way they gathered a day before when Jeoff Hoon was summoned to court. According to Russia's news agency RIA Novosti, Tony Blair and secretaries of his government, Defense Secretary Jeoff Hoon and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw are depicted as playing cards on the slogans. The name of the prime minister is spelt as "Bliar" on one of the slogans which demonstrates opinion of the people about the prime minister. This fact is really discouraging for the British prime minister.

It is unlikely that Tony Blair will tell Lord Hutton's commission anything sensational. The British Government admits the scandal has seriously shattered the Cabinet's prestige. However, they deny that what is called "the Iraqi dossier" had been purposefully distorted.

It should be mentioned that on the suggestion of Tony Blair US President George W. Bush declared that the Iraqi army might use weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes after it is ordered to do so.

Jeoff Hoon said that his department considered the possibility of unveiling the name of the source of information after BBC reported the inauthenticity of the Iraqi dossier. However they were not sure that might be only one person. Jeoff Hoon couldn't say for sure if Dr. Kelly had been contacted and informed that his name might be published; he only added that the expert was warned that his name could become known.

The inquiry commission will have to find out if the situation was like that in fact. Jeoff Hoon decided to cover his boss Tony Blair: he says that "the Ministry of Defense is still the main governmental authority responsible for the case of Dr.David Kelly."

Indeed, the suicide of David Kelly and the charges of falsification of "the Iraqi dossier" have seriously marred the reputation of Tony Blair. It is interesting that George W. Bush whose initiatives concerning Iraq were always supported by the British prime minister hasn't said anything in support of Tony Blair hit by the storm of criticism. On the other hand, under today's conditions support of the White House will hardly help Blair.

However, the British Government obviously hardly supposed that David Kelly might commit suicide having failed to stand such close public attention. They either couldn't anticipate that the incident would cause such great problems to the government. No matter what results are obtained in the framework of the investigation, they will mean an end to Blair's political career. Even if he manages to keep the the position of prime minister. 

The Iraqi dossier was based upon data provided by the intelligence; it is absolutely ruled out that the document could be falsified, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said today at a court session in the framework of the inquiry into the weapons expert David Kelly's death. Tony Blair confirmed that the information claiming Iraq might deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes had been also provided by special services. The British prime minister emphasized: "We wouldn't publish information reported by an unreliable source."
 
Meanwhile, Tony Blair denied any supposition that the government might falsify the facts to mislead lawmakers and find casus belli to launch hostilities in Iraq. According to Tony Blair, "the main objective of the Iraqi dossier is to respond to the appeals to publish intelligence information that the government held; however at that moment we had no intention to use the dossier as an immediate reason to wage hostilities." The information was provided by Russia's agency RosBusinessConsulting.