Tony Blair lives, David Kelly dies By Martin Deane

Lord Hutton was chosen by Blair. Lord Hutton was given his brief by Blair. Lord Hutton has whitewashed the Government and scapegoated the BBC. Blair conned us to go to war and the Hutton Report is a smokescreen. Hutton was a major event in itself, but the real issue is - and remains - responsibility for war.

Today no blame attaches to Mr Blair, or to Mr Hoon, to Her Majesty's Government or to the Ministry Of Defence. But the British Broadcasting Corporation gets it in the neck. For what? For daring to question a tiny part of a government dossier on another country's weapons. Dr Kelly, inside the MOD, questioned the 45-minute attack claim, and is now a casualty - of war. Of an arrogant Labour government that could not be questioned, nor even appear to be questioned. It is ironic, that weapons inspector David Kelly should be the one British victim of non-existent Iraqi WMD, which he himself believed in.

The result? The BBC is to blame - for 'over-egging' a conservative expert's words! But in the final analysis the words don't matter! What matters is we went to war! In the face of the greatest popular protest in British history.

On Blair's say-so. On presented intelligence that was fantasy. To blame just the BBC makes Hutton an outrage to decent thinking people.

Kelly would no doubt be alive now, had he not dared question this small, yet spinable, part of a government dossier. For many it remains difficult to believe a man as professional, tough-minded and capable as David Kelly, would actually kill himself. Many inconsistencies and other reports suggest agents had a hand in it - even governments can shoot themselves in the foot.

Some wanted to throw the book at him, as well as the BBC. Well they won on both points.

Saturday 17th July was the anniversary of Dr David Kelly's death. Kelly's 'crime' was to break ranks and talk off the record to a reporter. Indeed a man may have died as a result of the government's contempt for one of the cornerstones of democracy - a free and independent press. In the end Kelly died for his attempt to be clear about exactly what he backed in a government dossier, and what he did not. It's called integrity. "In my opinion, David Kelly and his team should have won the Nobel (peace) prize for disarmament", Rolf Ekeus, chief UN weapons inspector, 1990s. (BBC News link)

Blair followed America and chose to go to war. We had Blair's word that Iraq was crawling with WMD. Britain joined in killing 55,000 people - and Blair thinks it's his finest hour. The Truth is: there weren't any WMD! Hussein was disarmed, this was known, this was said, he was no immediate danger. The Americans were saying this in 2001! Kelly and Gilligan made hardly the faintest criticism of the actual falsity of the government's stance, and now one is dead and the other a scapegoat! The Truth is - Blair joined an illegal, immoral, aggressive war - by deceiving us all! Blair pretends such 'pre-emptive' war can be fought under International Law. Bush and Blair's war of aggression remains a most serious crime under Nuremberg Laws. International Law has been seriously undermined by their chosen action; a dangerous precedent from a dangerous president, that Blair chose to follow, in preference to his own people. Many of us now are surprised that Tony Blair remains. In 1974 America impeached Nixon. Nobody died at Watergate.

Hutton avoided blame for war - as the peacemakers predicted. One British scientist, 55,000 Iraqis and as many as 12,000 allied personnel have paid the price in dead and wounded. The peace movement, and other sections of society, knew Iraq was defenceless, impoverished by murderous sanctions; that Iraq had suffered enough. We knew weapons inspections worked! Yet Blair spends £6 or 7 billion on war and then brow beats us over top-up fees!

It may be hidden whether Blair leaked Kelly's name, but what is clear is that Tony Blair is responsible for mercilessly pushing Britain into war against the wishes of the country, pushing people into believing so-called "expert intelligence" which turns out to be fantasy. And so we believe it is right to accuse Tony Blair and Her Majesty's Government of being guilty of, and accomplices to, the murder of tens of thousands of Iraqis. They should be held to account for this. Iraq has no WMD now. Iraq was no threat in March 2003. Neither Hutton nor Butler were about to call Tony Blair an international war criminal - but we believe he is. People know it was Bush's war for oil. People know Blair went along with it. They know WMD was a ruse. The British people do not like being lied to, or ordered to pay a blood price; its intelligence services made a mockery of; its army having to follow immoral orders. It is the death knell for a society when we allow Blair's lies, fabrications, and fawning over America, to lead to war.

Martin J Deane Martin is Secretary of Hull Stop the War The complete Hull STW newsletter is available on their website in PDF format at: www.stopthewar.fsnet.co.uk

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