The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
“The
history of Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction is a 12
year
history,
and is a history of him using the weapons and developing the
weapons and
concealing
the weapons and not complying with the United Nations inspectors
who
were trying
to shut down his programmes.
“And I
simply say – which is why I totally agree with the President – it’s
important
we wait for
the Iraq Survey Group to complete their work. Because the
proposition
that
actually he was not developing such weapons and such programmes,
having
finally
effectively got rid of them in December ’98, he then took all the
problems
and sanctions
and action upon himself, voluntarily destroyed them but just
didn’t
tell anyone.
“I don’t
think that’s very likely as a proposition. I really
don’t.”
425.
On
18 July, the body of Dr Kelly was discovered near his
Oxfordshire
426.
The decision
to set up an investigation into Dr Kelly’s death headed by Lord
Hutton
is
summarised in the Box below.
Following
the controversy surrounding the allegations by the BBC
journalist
Mr Andrew
Gilligan
that the September 2002 intelligence dossier had been “sexed up”,
Dr David Kelly,
MOD Special
Adviser Counter-proliferation and Arms Control, was invited to give
evidence
to the
House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on 15 July 2003 and
the Intelligence
and
Security Committee of Parliament on 16 July.
On
18 July 2003, Dr Kelly’s body was found near his Oxfordshire
home.220
Later on
18 July, Lord Hutton was asked by Lord Falconer, the Secretary
of State for
Constitutional
Affairs, “urgently to conduct an investigation into the
circumstances
surrounding
the death of Dr Kelly”.221
Lord Hutton
concluded that his Terms of Reference should include investigation
of the
two
allegations that had drawn Dr Kelly into the controversy
surrounding Mr Gilligan’s
broadcasts
on the Today
programme:
“… (1) that
the Government probably knew, before it decided to put it in the
dossier
of 24 September
2002, that the statement was wrong that the Iraqi military
were
able to
deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes of a decision
to do so
and (2)
that 10 Downing Street ordered the dossier to be sexed
up”.222
219
Report of the
Inquiry into the Circumstances Surrounding the Death of Dr David
Kelly C.M.G.
by Lord
Hutton,
28 January 2004, HC 247, paragraph 130.
220
Report of the
Inquiry into the Circumstances Surrounding the Death of Dr David
Kelly C.M.G.
by Lord
Hutton,
28 January 2004, HC 247, paragraph 130.
221
Report of the
Inquiry into the Circumstances Surrounding the Death of Dr David
Kelly C.M.G.
by Lord
Hutton,
28 January 2004, HC 247, paragraph 1.
222
Report of the
Inquiry into the Circumstances Surrounding the Death of Dr David
Kelly C.M.G.
by Lord
Hutton,
28 January 2004, HC 247, paragraph 9.
508