LONGWORTH, England, July 18 — British police found a body on Friday matching that of a mild-mannered scientist who disappeared after becoming unwittingly embroiled in a furious political dispute about the Iraq war.
The softly spoken 59-year-old had been thrust into the limelight by a row over whether the British government hyped the threat from Iraq in order to justify joining the U.S.-led war.
The political fallout was almost immediate. Prime Minister Tony Blair's government promised an independent judicial inquiry into events leading up to the death of Dr David Kelly, if it is confirmed.
Blair has refused previous calls for a wider inquiry into the government case for war in Iraq.
Kelly's family reported him missing overnight after he went for a walk in the Oxfordshire countryside on Thursday with no coat and stayed out despite a rainstorm. Police found a body in a wood near his home earlier on Friday.
''We can confirm that the body matches the description of Dr Kelly. The body has not been formally identified,'' a police spokeswoman said.
Kelly, a microbiologist at the Defence Ministry who had worked for U.N. inspectors in Iraq, had been grilled by parliamentarians on Tuesday after admitting he spoke to a reporter for Britain's BBC radio.
The reporter, Andrew Gilligan, said in May a senior intelligence source had told him the government ''sexed up'' data to emphasise the threat from Iraq.
That report sparked parliamentary hearings into how the government made the case for war, forced Blair onto the defensive and pitted government officials against the broadcaster in a heated war of words.
Blair spoke to top officials about the case from aboard a flight to Tokyo from Washington.
''The prime minister is obviously very distressed for the family of Dr Kelly,'' a spokesman said aboard the flight.
If the death is confirmed the defence ministry would hold an independent judicial inquiry, presided over by a judge with access to all government papers, he added.
Kelly's discomfort in the spotlight was evident from his demeanour at the foreign affairs committee hearing.
Speaking so softly he could barely be heard, he admitted he had met Gilligan but denied telling him Blair's communications chief Alastair Campbell had ordered intelligence on suspected Iraqi banned weapons to be hyped.
Kelly appeared shell-shocked when parliamentarians at the hearing described him as ''chaff'' and a government ''fall guy,'' put forward to shield top officials from blame.
Kelly's wife Jane described him as deeply upset by the hearing, family friend Tom Mangold, a television journalist, told ITV News.
''She told me he had been under considerable stress, that he was very very angry about what had happened at the committee..,'' Mangold said.





He worked for Porton Down 18.Jul.2003 12:12

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GFP


Dead Scientist worked for Porton Down

Kelly worked for Porton Down

As GFP found out last week, Kelly was more than just an "adviser to the Foreign Office". From 1984-1992 he was Head of Microbiology at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment, Porton Down. Kelly was also among the hardliners who claimed that Iraq had WMD.

In October 2001, Kelly claimed, that in 1985, Iraq obtained Anthrax through a mail order of Virginia-based American Type Culture Collection.

It was not obvious if Kelly was indeed the BBC Source.

Kelly took also part in all trilateral visits to the former Soviet Union, Russia, the US and the UK. He was Senior Advisor on Biological Weapons to UNSCOM from 1994-­99, and led and participated in many inspections in Iraq from 1991-­98.

From 1984-1992 Kelly was Head of Microbiology at the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment, Porton Down.

Porton Down, controversial for their Chemical Warfare Experimental Stations from the 20s to the 50s, was also able to obtain the Anthrax Spores, which had been used in the October 2001 attacks.

Porton Down, directly, and the CIA, indirectly, received their samples of the particular anthrax spores used in the attacks from the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infections Diseases at Fort Detrick, about 50 miles north of Washington.

Since the First World War, the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment at Porton Down carried out experiments on volunteers to understand better the effects of chemical agents that might be used against British troops in warfare and improve protective measures.

In the 90s, Porton Downs cooperation with the British Government became stronger again and ended basically in a merger:
By 1991 the Chemical Defence Establishment of Porton Down became the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment and was one of the six new Defence Support Agencies. In 1995, the Establishment became part of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), an executive agency of MOD evolved in 1994 from proposals of the “Front Line First” Defence Cost Studies.

In 2001, DERA split into two organisations: QinetiQ, a private company, and DSTL (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory), which remains an agency of MOD. Porton Down is now known as DSTL, Porton Down.

Today, Dstl delivers defence research, specialist technical services and the ability to track global technological developments.

In July 2002, the Carlyle Group took a 34% stake in QinetiQ.


 http://new.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/07/18/1440234&mode=thread