The Hutton Report

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starbug
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The Hutton Report

Post by starbug » Jan 22nd 2004, 6:00 am

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3400303.stm

Tony Blair's future is on the line... the issue is whether he lied to the House of Commons when asked whether he had authorised the leaking of Dr. Kelly's name to the press. (Dr. Kelly was the government's weapons expert who, it had been suggested, came up with the '45 mins' claim. He killed himself)

Blair says he didn't lie. He 'stands by the totality of what he said', whatever that means. Basically, the arguments are two-fold.

1. Blair claims that 'the totality' of what he said is what matters. He was apparently not the one who authorised the 'leak' of Dr. Kelly's name. He claims he had no knowledge. The fact is, that he was in the meeting (chairing it I think but I could be wrong) where the decision was taken.

2. What is the definition of a 'leak'? Is it a bona fide positive 'let's go to the press and release his name', or is it enough to (as happened in this case) make it known to the media that if they can come up with a name, the government will confirm that it is the correct one? I'm failing to see the distinction here really. Apparently, given the information at the fingertips of most journalists, only the most inept would not have picked Dr. Kelly very quickly. Ring the government offices, 'was it Dr. Kelly?', 'yes'...

I fail to see the practical difference, but Blair claims that he thinks a 'leak' only covers the first situation, and not the second. When asked whether he 'leaked' the name, his honest answer was 'no'.

I don't know about you, but this sounds like BS to me.

Could this be the end of Blair? I don't know. I sort of hope so because I think he panders to Bush WAY too much, and is dishonest, and has broken his manifesto pledges. But when I look at the right-wing fascist alternative of Michael Howard, frankly I'll take Blair.

Who knows... maybe the Liberal Democrats may finally have their day...

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andrewgd
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Re: The Hutton Report

Post by andrewgd » Jan 22nd 2004, 6:37 am

starbug wrote:Could this be the end of Blair? I don't know. I sort of hope so because I think he panders to Bush WAY too much, and is dishonest, and has broken his manifesto pledges.
Have you heard about the whole Plame Affair over there? Basically the same thing, only instead of outing Kelly, they blew the cover of a CIA agent (who was the wife of the guy who disproved that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger).

And this was something like 8 months ago, and nobody has gotten in trouble for it.

Though once in a while we see that work is being done by the FBI, it doesn't look good as to anyone getting in trouble for ALL the sh*t they've pulled.
"Your imagination, like a child, will explode with unrestrained possibilities for adventure."

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starbug
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Post by starbug » Jan 28th 2004, 10:56 am

andrewgd wrote:it doesn't look good as to anyone getting in trouble for ALL the sh*t they've pulled.
here too. Hutton has exonerated the government (boo hiss) and Blair has been on the TV being smug about it already.

A large part of me thinks Dr. Kelly was murdered... it was my initial reaction on hearing the news he had died, and I find it implausible that he killed himself.

The BBC got a roasting, and Blair apparently did nothing wrong. Yeah right. One of the key points even Hutton acknowledged is that 'there is no way to confirm what Dr. Kelly said to Andrew Gilligan.' No s*** sherlock! That's because he's DEAD. I find it hard to believe that he wasn't killed by government henchmen in order to shut him up.

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Post by lance » Jan 30th 2004, 8:55 pm

starbug wrote:
andrewgd wrote:it doesn't look good as to anyone getting in trouble for ALL the sh*t they've pulled.
here too. Hutton has exonerated the government (boo hiss) and Blair has been on the TV being smug about it already.

A large part of me thinks Dr. Kelly was murdered... it was my initial reaction on hearing the news he had died, and I find it implausible that he killed himself.

The BBC got a roasting, and Blair apparently did nothing wrong. Yeah right. One of the key points even Hutton acknowledged is that 'there is no way to confirm what Dr. Kelly said to Andrew Gilligan.' No s*** sherlock! That's because he's DEAD. I find it hard to believe that he wasn't killed by government henchmen in order to shut him up.
Yeah,

I hate to sound paranoid here, but Blair got off way too easy. Something smells rotten here and it doesn't have anything to do with Denmark.

-LanceMan

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