Dr. David Kelly ("suicide") death inquest may be reopened (Spokesman for Attorney General says)

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Attorney general considers move after experts say official finding on scientist's death was 'extremely unlikely' -

Matthew Taylor -

The attorney general is considering re-opening the inquest into the death of government scientist David Kelly, it has emerged.

A spokesman for Dominic Grieve, who has the power to go to the high court and ask for a new inquest, said he was reviewing the case in light of fresh calls for the weapon inspector's death to be investigated.

"He remains concerned about this matter and is considering how to take it forward with his ministerial colleagues," said the spokesman.

The move comes after nine experts, including Michael Powers, a QC and former coroner, and Julian Blon, a professor of intensive care medicine, called for a full inquest into Kelly's death saying the official finding – haemorrhage from the severed artery – was "extremely unlikely".

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/13/david-kelly-death-inquest

---

(Note for mods: posting this as a new story as it is a recent development since the calls were made)

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. England has an Attorney General?

[Turborama]

3. He's the Attorney General for England and Wales

Here's his Wikipedia profile: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Grieve

[DavidDvorkin]

5. Here's an article about the office itself

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_General_for_England_and_Wales

It says that the office has existed since at least 1243.

[Octafish]

2. May the warmongers also face charges of ''murder.''

Going from his public statements, Dr. Kelly did not offer up anything that could stop the war machine.

Did he threaten to go public behind the scenes? Did he simply make the "mistake" of talking to the press, cough, Judy Kneepads?

[SpiralHawk]

6. Cough, Judy Kneepads (R), Cough New York Times KneeBenders (R)

Cough, Scooter Libby (R), Cough, Dickie 'Five-Military-Deferments' Cheney (R), cough, entangled aspen roots (R).

Hack, cough, hack.

[sabrina 1]

8. I am hoping for a trial during which evidence will be

brought about other players in the criminal acts that took this country to war. Maybe we'll get some justice after all, even if it is not here.

I wonder if Dr. Kelly knew that Judy was a mole or did he really think of her as a friend? It seems he trusted her. I would like to know if she played any role in alerting the government to his changing attitude towards the war in Iraq?

Otoh, I'm sure those 'dark actors' Dr. Kelly spoke of are going to work very hard to make sure no trial ever happens even if it means a few more people have to go. This could be happening to try to put to rest the doubts about his death as the demands for answers in this case just won't go away.

[Chicago dyke]

9. i'd be very surprised if "justice" came from an inquiry, today.

they have another political party in power now, and embarrassing the former party is nothing but gravy. but actually bring Kelly's killers to justice? i'm not holding my breath. this is for the papers in the UK, which actually still do cover politics in depth enough to make this an issue. unlike here.

[disndat]

37. Consider this -

David Cameron current P.M. is Conservative and Tony Blair was Laborite.

[democrank]

4. K & r

[Soylent Brice]

7. K&R

[mother earth]

10. The spider's web is deep, can't wait for the findings. Obviously,

it will change from suicide to homicide, and will remain unsolved. A victory, nonetheless...for what it's worth.

[JohnyCanuck]

11. Unsolved....

They'll be unable to tell us whether the hit men were from MI6, The CIA or the Mossad.

[mother earth]

31. But of course, this is the way of most "unsolved" n'est pas?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

23. especially when the USA was involved maybe?

[midnight]

12. Is this the third time they have re-opened this murder case?

I hope they follow through on this and put the guilty parties behind bars.

[Turborama]

13. New call for Dr David Kelly ("suicide") inquest

Source: BBC

A group of experts have renewed calls for a formal inquest into the death of government scientist Dr David Kelly. They say the official cause of death - a haemorrhage - was "extremely unlikely" in the light of new evidence. The claim comes in a letter from eight senior figures, including a coroner, published in the Times newspaper.

The letter's signatories include a former coroner, Michael Powers, a former deputy coroner, Margaret Bloom, and Julian Bion, a professor of intensive care medicine. They say Lord Hutton's conclusion is unsafe. They argue that a severed ulnar artery, the wound found to Dr Kelly's wrist, was unlikely to be life-threatening unless an individual had a blood-clotting deficiency.

"Insufficient blood would have been lost to threaten life," they write.

"Absent a quantitative assessment of the blood lost and of the blood remaining in the great vessels, the conclusion that death occurred as a consequence of haemorrhage is unsafe."

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10961016

---

Call For Inquest Into David Kelly 'Suicide'

6:28am UK, Friday August 13, 2010
Graham Fitzgerald, Sky News Online

A group of experts including a coroner and a professor of medicine are demanding a full inquest into the death of government weapons inspector David Kelly.

They have described the official cause of death - that Dr Kelly bled to death after slashing his wrist - as "extremely unlikely" in the light of evidence since made public.

The call for an inquest comes in a letter to The Times signed by eight senior figures including former coroner, Michael Powers.

A former deputy coroner, Margaret Bloom, and Julian Bion, a professor of intensive care medicine, are among the other signatories. Coalition ministers are currently exploring how best to allay concern over shortcomings in the official version of Dr Kelly's death.

Full article: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Group-Of-Experts-Call-For-Full-Inquest-Into-Death-Of-Government-Weapons-Inspector-David-Kelly/Article/201008215682564?lpos=UK_News_News_Your_Way_Region_9&lid=NewsYourWay_ARTICLE_15682564_Group_Of_Experts_Call_For_Full_Inquest_Into_Death_Of_Government_Weapons_Inspector_David_Kelly

[IndianaGreen]

14. K&R n/t

:kick:

[sabrina 1]

15. I am so glad that this case has not been allowed to

just go away. I sincerely believe that the Hutton inquiry was a 'Whitewash'. That, airc, was how Britain's top newspapers at the time, reported the findings.

I think he was murdered but I don't understand why since they had already probably scared him into silence.

His connection to Judy Miller who seems to have gone into hiding was always fascinating. I wonder if he knew she could not be trusted, probably not. Who did at that time?

[Rhiannon12866]

16. +1. K&R! n/t

[glitch]

17. There's even more to this than we already suspect, IMO. nt

[Peace Patriot]

20. I agree. The Bush Junta and the Blairites harmed so many people...

...including slaughtering a hundred thousand innocent people in the bombing of Baghdad, and randomly imprisoning and torturing prisoners, that it was difficult, back in 2003, to seek justice, or to even know what justice would be, or how to achieve it, amidst such horrors. Maybe that's why I felt personally touched and outraged by their treatment of David Kelly and by what I am 99% certain was their murder of Kelly, amidst these other horrors. It was a single horror, not fathomless horror.

Here was someone who was part of the MIC establishment, who had actually supported the Iraq War, at first, but who turned against it, circa May 2003, for reasons that we can only guess at, and tried to inform the public that its justifications were suspect. They interrogated him at a "safe house," threatened him with the Official Secrets Act, outed him to the press and then sent him home without protection and apparently without surveillance. (The latter is not believable--that he was not under surveillance. So, what were his watchers doing while he supposedly bled to death all night, outdoors, near him home?) This vile treatment of an establishment insider whose conscience had clearly begun to bother him about the war outraged me, and still does. And I remember thinking, hoping, praying that some day...some day...people with investigative abilities would take it up, identify his killers--and most especially those who gave the orders--and uncover the whole story.

This seems to be happening sooner than I expected. That is good--witnesses, memories, evidence trails still fairly fresh. There has never been anything clearer in this case than that the lack of blood at the scene was deliberately ignored and lied about in the Hutton inquiry (where the fairy tale was made up that, because the weather was damp, the blood had maybe disappeared into the grass?). This tells me that there are very strong motives behind this coverup. Original witnesses to the crime scene were not called! Experts who questioned that fairy tale at the time were not consulted. Those motives are still at work and may foil a new investigation. But I am heartened that these and other people are not letting it go away.

On our end--here in the USA--there needs to be an investigation of the possible connection between Kelly's murder and the outings of Valerie Plame and the CIA's Brewster-Jennings WMD counter-proliferation network in the same week. These events happened on the following timeline: Late May 2003, Kelly begins whistleblowing to the BBC. June, the Blairites hunt him down within the government and interrogate him at a "safe house." July 6, Plame's husband Joe Wilson publishes his whistleblowing article (also questioning the lies told to justify the war). July 7, Tony Blair is informed that Kelly "could say" (not had said--"could say") some embarrassing things to a parliamentary committee, if they force him to testify. July 14, Plame is outed (by Novak). July 18, Kelly is found dead near his home in highly suspicious circumstances. July 22, the entire B-J network is additionally outed (also by Novak).

Let me repeat the essential dates:

July 14, Plame is outed.
July 18, Kelly is found dead.
July 22, the entire B-J network is additionally outed.

Kelly was killed WITHIN THREE DAYS of the Plame outing. There is other connective tissue--including the Judith Miller connection. But the dates alone warrant an investigation of the possible coordinated effort of the Bushites and the Blairites to punish and silence critics, possibly in a context of something that is not yet known (for instance, their plan to plant WMDs in Iraq, perhaps trackable to Iran, to extend the war to Iran then and there--a plan that would explain insider Kelly's rebellion, and effort to whistleblow, after the invasion and with the Iraq war well under way. U.S. soldiers--accompanied by Judith Miller--were still "hunting" for the non-existent WMDs in July--in a very high profile "hunt" with daily headlines--while Plame was being outed and Kelly murdered.)

I don't expect any such investigation in the U.S., any time soon. I'm afraid that we are too far gone down the path of the "Big Lie." But maybe some day...

[sabrina 1]

22. Excellent post, it should be an OP.

This is so well said as it is true:

..including slaughtering a hundred thousand innocent people in the bombing of Baghdad, and randomly imprisoning and torturing prisoners, that it was difficult, back in 2003, to seek justice, or to even know what justice would be, or how to achieve it, amidst such horrors. Maybe that's why I felt personally touched and outraged by their treatment of David Kelly and by what I am 99% certain was their murder of Kelly, amidst these other horrors. It was a single horror, not fathomless horror.

I remember it well, the sense of horror that one of their own was not beyond the same treatment meted out to all those anonymous, and to them, dispensable Iraqi citizens. It meant that no one was safe from their murderous rampage. You just knew from the start that there was something sinister about this death.

From the start it never made sense that he would kill himself and I doubt many people believed it. I wonder what effect it had on anyone else who might consider talking.

'A single horror' yes. The only other single horror that stands out for me was the little Iraqi boy, Ali I believe his name was, who lost his whole family in the bombing of Baghdad and lost his arms and legs, one victim covered by CNN just before the press was silenced completely. That little boy was the last Iraqi whose story was covered as if he was a human being, not just 'collateral damage'.

I am surprised too that this is happening relatively soon after it happened. Britain seems to be doing an awful lot more about exposing their war criminals than we are.

[NoodleyAppendage]

26. AGREED. READ ABOVE ORIGINATING POST. n/t

J

[NoodleyAppendage]

27. It all comes down to the effort by the Brits and USA to PLANT WMDs to justify the war. n/t

J

[The abyss]

45. As always Peace Patriot

You provide the most logical analysis in the most clearly stated manner.

Please keep moving forward!

[Turborama]

48. Excellent post on this matter, PP, as always.

Thank you for your insight. Have you considered writing a book on all this? I'd definitely buy it!

[go west young man]

33. Definitely a "whitewash".

Why else would Hutton seal the records for 70 years? Hell even in the states we seal our crimes
up for less time than that. Even the medical personnel who attended to Dr. Kelly said it didn't
seem plausible as a suicide.

[robertpaulsen]

18. Yes! Shine a light on the "dark actors"!

Let's hope this isn't another whitewash.

[Blue Owl]

19. Somethin' STINKS here

Where's that bad smell coming from?

[PassingFair]

21. That poor guy was taken out like a spy in a Graham Greene novel.

No way did he commit suicide.

They will never be allowed a proper investigation..

[Rosa Luxemburg]

25. The question is who did it us or them

[DFLforever]

28. Maybe both.

[Uncle Joe]

24. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Turborama.

[eridani]

29. Colleague says that Kelly was on a hit list

Hhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1302939/Dr-David-Kelly-hitlist-says-UN-weapons-expert-calls-grow-inquest.html

A leading UN weapons inspector last night added his voice to the growing clamour for a full inquest into the death of Dr David Kelly.

Dr Richard Spertzel claimed Dr Kelly was on a 'hitlist' in the final years of his life.

The former head of the UN Biological Section, who worked closely with Dr Kelly in Iraq in the 1990s, has written to Attorney General Dominic Grieve about the 'mysterious circumstances' surrounding the death.

The weapons inspector's body was found after he was unmasked as the source of a damaging BBC news report questioning the grounds for the Iraq war.

Officially, he took his own life.

Yesterday Dr Spertzel told the Mail that the British authorities were 'intentionally ignoring' the issue.

He believes that there is something 'fishy' and insisted that a coroner should examine the death as soon as possible.

His demands come 24 hours after nine of Britain's leading medical experts wrote an open letter to minsters demanding a full inquest.

Dr Spertzel said: 'I know that David, as well as myself and a couple of others, were on an Iraqi hitlist. In late 1997, we were told by the Russian embassy in Baghdad. I had no idea what it meant but apparently David and I were high on the priority list.

[Supersedeas]

50. how long before a collegue of Dr. Bruce Ivans insist upon an investigation

[Control-Z]

30. His suicide method alone

is cause for suspicion. We're talking about a highly intelligent man - an expert in biological warfare. I don't see him choosing to slice his wrist. Just doesn't fit, imo.

[sofa king]

32. How about suicide by TWO shots to the head?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Webb

Perhaps someday the circumstances surrounding Gary Webb's death will be considered unusual, too.

[Turborama]

34. Former Conservative leader Michael Howard backs calls for inquest into death of David Kelly

Former Conservative leader says 'growing number of questions' have emerged over death of weapons expert in 2003

Press Association
Sunday August 15 2010

The former Conservative leader Michael Howard today backed calls for a a full inquest into the death of the government weapons expert Dr David Kelly.

His call came after a group of prominent experts described the official explanation for the scientist's death in 2003 as "extremely unlikely".

Howard, who is now a Tory peer, said their intervention confirmed his belief that there should now be a proper inquest.

"In view of the growing number of relevant questions that have arisen and cast doubt on the conclusions reached by Lord Hutton, I believe it would now be appropriate for a full inquest to be held," he told the Mail on Sunday.

"Recent evidence by the first police officer on the scene, together with new statements by doctors, raise serious questions which should be considered. This has been on my mind for quite a while, and recent events have crystallised my view."

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/15/michael-howard-david-kelly-inquest

[Dystopian]

35. KandR

peace~

[russspeakeasy]

36. Investigate all you want...When Texas prints it's next history book

It was Obamas fault...

[disndat]

38. Maybe David Cameron and Obama

is collaborating on this. Obama and the A.G. have not been allowed to go anywhere near what happened in 9/11 or having the Guantanamo trials in NYC, blocked by the RW. This could be Obama's end run and could open a can of worms even in this country.

[cascadiance]

42. Maybe suddenly Don Siegelman's appeal will be heard, and Sibel Edmonds will testify...

once this trial starts, as those holding fingers in the dikes here will know then that the House of Cards will be falling, and they will want to make sure that they aren't a part of the collapse then.

[cascadiance]

43. Hopefully Bill White will win governorship in Texas and keep that from happening...

... as well as all of the other crap that that school board has been pulling!

[IndianaGreen]

39. UPDATE: Kelly had heart attack, says pathologist

Evidence: Ten reasons to query the suicide verdict

1. An elbow injury had left David Kelly's right arm too weak to cut his wrist.

2. He had "difficulty swallowing pills" so he couldn't have swallowed 29 tablets.

3. Medical records about the case have been classified for 70 years, implying there's something to hide.

4. There were no fingerprints on the pruning knife used to cut his wrist.

5. He anticipated his own death, predicting he would "probably be found dead in the woods" if Iraq was invaded.

6. Doctors doubt the severed artery would have caused enough blood loss for him to have died of a haemorrhage.

7. The detective who found his body, Constable Graham Coe, said there wasn't much blood, so how could he have died of blood loss after slitting his wrist?

8. Two paramedics at the scene were sceptical the "wrist wound we saw" could have caused his death.

9. There was no evidence he was depressed; he was looking forward to his daughter's wedding.

10. His death certificate was not signed by a doctor or coroner and does not state a place of death.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/kelly-had-heart-attack-says-pathologist-2053048.html

[Rosa Luxemburg]

40. why would they classify someone's medical records?

that stinks of rotten fish!

[RufusTFirefly]

41. And yet people who questioned this from the outset were branded "conspiracy theorists"

Sigh.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. But skeptics shouldn't be automatically ostracized.

[Peace Patriot]

44. I agree. The "tinfoil hat" accusation against anyone who raises questions about a possible

political murder or about other events, gives great cover to those who ARE conspiring to murder opponents, or drag our country into an unjust war, steal trillions of dollars, steal elections and other evil deeds. Typically, the "tinfoil hat" accusers won't look at evidence and simply follow the corpo-fascist 'news' line, whatever it is. Those of us who have been around for a while, and followed events such as the JFK assassination, for instance, and watched the government create the "lone gunman" LIE, and later--much later, too late--saw a congressional committee demolish that bloody lie--and then watched that revelation get washed into the corpo-fascist 'news' monopoly "river of forgetfulness"--and have now seen our government totally hijacked by war profiteers, torturers and slaughterers of a hundred thousand innocent people to steal their oil, DO look at evidence, do not look away and do not dismiss someone's information and analysis as a "mere conspiracy theory" just because the person is alone or is not in "the mainstream." The "mainstream" is more often than not full of shit, and that is the truth. It is a CREATION of the war profiteers and their propagandists,--a phony "mainstream" that has nothing to do with the beliefs, interests and wishes of most Americans, and often promotes the very opposite of the truth.

Example: Nearly 60% of the American people opposed the war on Iraq--Feb '03, all polls. Could you ever have determined that that was the case from the "mainstream" media, all of whom were "selling" the war? They created an illusion, an impression, of consent, even in the teeth of their own polls!

Having seen that happen--and so much more--can make you vulnerable to truly wild theories, it's true--and to always thinking the worst in every case. You have to stay steady on your feet, evaluate facts and ideas as best you can, and, if you do conclude that you believe something that many call a "conspiracy theory," but that you, in your own judgement, think is true, then you have to struggle against feelings of powerlessness and loneliness, and you have to resist feeling contempt for people who are still caught in the "mainstream" illusion, or who don't think it's important. And you have to find some constructive way to live with what you know.

I recommend James Douglass' book, "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters," for an approach to some awful truths that goes way beyond an investigation of facts--which the book does very thoroughly and convincingly--to examining and deeply understanding the moral and spiritual crisis of the times--a crisis that is still with us. We need to understand the facts, the evidence and all the behaviors and circumstances of such an event, but we also need to understand WHY and WHAT IT MEANS, for us personally and for our society. Douglass' book is riveting and brilliant on the details and on the larger human questions involved, and he speaks to our times, now. The book was published about two years ago. He has been working on it for decades. "Conspiracy theorists" need to read this book. Everyone needs to read this book.

[boppers]

46. Orly Taitz gets her hearings in court, too.

:shrug:

[RufusTFirefly]

47. Wonderfully stated, PeacePatriot!

I especially liked when you wrote

Having seen that happen--and so much more--can make you vulnerable to truly wild theories, it's true--and to always thinking the worst in every case. You have to stay steady on your feet, evaluate facts and ideas as best you can, and, if you do conclude that you believe something that many call a "conspiracy theory," but that you, in your own judgement, think is true, then you have to struggle against feelings of powerlessness and loneliness, and you have to resist feeling contempt for people who are still caught in the "mainstream" illusion, or who don't think it's important. And you have to find some constructive way to live with what you know.

You do a tremendous job of expressing the predicament of the person who dares to ask questions and finds him or herself feeling powerless and alone.

Thank you.

And yes, I have definitely read Douglass's book. In fact, I own it. Highly recommended to anyone who sees this post and wants to read a sensitive, sensible, and well-reasoned summation of JFK's foreign policy evolution (I'm tempted to call it an epiphany) and the circumstances that led to his murder.

[BeHereNow]

52. I remember those days well...

I'm sure more incidents like the Kelly case
will surface as the years go by.
We'll see who was right as they do.
BHN

[Turborama]

49. Dr Kelly: Just 20% believe it was suicide as official cause of death branded 'impossible'

By JAMES SLACK and MILES GOSLETT
Last updated at 10:41 PM GMT on August 15 2010


The official verdict that Dr David Kelly committed suicide has been overwhelmingly rejected by the public.

According to an exclusive Mail opinion poll, only one in five people accepts the Hutton Inquiry’s finding that the government weapons inspector took his own life.

The survey also reveals that eight out of ten people want a full inquest. With senior MPs making the same demand, the Coalition is under strong pressure to act.

It comes as a medical report says it was ‘impossible’ that Dr Kelly bled to death in the way described by the inquiry.


Full article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1303356/Dr-Kelly-Just-believes-suicide-official-cause-death-branded-impossible.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

[wildbilln864]

51. kick! nt

:banghead:

[BeHereNow]

53. FINALLY! Long overdue. n/t REC!

bhn