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CNN Live Sunday
Tony Blair To Face Inquiry Into Dr. Kelly's Death
Aired August 24, 2003 - 16:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Britain's prime minister is facing some tough questions about just how far he may have gone to sell the public on going to war against Iraq. Tony Blair must go before a panel probing the death of a scientist who had challenged his case. CNN's senior European political correspondent Robin Oakley with that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Soon after the fall of Baghdad Tony Blair's party was 10 points ahead of its conservative rivals. Opinion polls said he was trusted and admired.
But failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the apparent suicide of weapons expert Dr. David Kelly, the BBC's claimed source for stories the government had sexed up its war dossier last September, has seen a dramatic reversal.
PETER KELLNER, CHAIRMAN YOUGOV POLLS: Labor is now behind. The conservatives are now ahead effectively for the first time in more than a decade. Tony Blair isn't trusted. The government isn't trusted. The government is blamed far more than anybody else for the death of David Kelly.
OAKLEY: On Thursday Mr. Blair will himself face the inquiry he set up into Kelly's death. A key question -- how much of a role did he play in forcing Dr. Kelly into the public spotlight just before his death?
A permanent secretary at the defense ministry has already told the inquiry Mr. Blair followed very closely the events surrounding Dr. Kelly's outing. Other officials say he urged Kelly's public grilling by lawmakers.
Next, did the Blair government manipulate the dossier, as journalists who'd spoken to Dr. Kelly reported? The inquiry has seen an e-mail from Blair's chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, which declared September 17 of the dossier draft the document does nothing to demonstrate a threat, let alone an imminent threat, from Saddam Hussein.
So Mr. Blair's likely to be asked why he declared in the dossier's forward only a week later, "I am in no doubt that the threat is serious and current." And he might be asked why his communications chief, Alister Campbell, recorded in his diary, read to the inquiry, "it's grim for me and it's grim for TB because there is this huge stuff about trust."
That was an entry about the BBC story that the government forced intelligence chiefs to insert in the dossier to claim that Saddam Hussein could deploy weapons of mass destruction at 45 minutes' notice.
Currently, polls show two thirds of voters believing the government did exaggerate the evidence. If Mr. Blair is to win back that lost public trust, he has to begin with his inquiry appearance. Robin Oakley, CNN, London.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 24, 2003 - 16:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Britain's prime minister is facing some tough questions about just how far he may have gone to sell the public on going to war against Iraq. Tony Blair must go before a panel probing the death of a scientist who had challenged his case. CNN's senior European political correspondent Robin Oakley with that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Soon after the fall of Baghdad Tony Blair's party was 10 points ahead of its conservative rivals. Opinion polls said he was trusted and admired.
But failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the apparent suicide of weapons expert Dr. David Kelly, the BBC's claimed source for stories the government had sexed up its war dossier last September, has seen a dramatic reversal.
PETER KELLNER, CHAIRMAN YOUGOV POLLS: Labor is now behind. The conservatives are now ahead effectively for the first time in more than a decade. Tony Blair isn't trusted. The government isn't trusted. The government is blamed far more than anybody else for the death of David Kelly.
OAKLEY: On Thursday Mr. Blair will himself face the inquiry he set up into Kelly's death. A key question -- how much of a role did he play in forcing Dr. Kelly into the public spotlight just before his death?
A permanent secretary at the defense ministry has already told the inquiry Mr. Blair followed very closely the events surrounding Dr. Kelly's outing. Other officials say he urged Kelly's public grilling by lawmakers.
Next, did the Blair government manipulate the dossier, as journalists who'd spoken to Dr. Kelly reported? The inquiry has seen an e-mail from Blair's chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, which declared September 17 of the dossier draft the document does nothing to demonstrate a threat, let alone an imminent threat, from Saddam Hussein.
So Mr. Blair's likely to be asked why he declared in the dossier's forward only a week later, "I am in no doubt that the threat is serious and current." And he might be asked why his communications chief, Alister Campbell, recorded in his diary, read to the inquiry, "it's grim for me and it's grim for TB because there is this huge stuff about trust."
That was an entry about the BBC story that the government forced intelligence chiefs to insert in the dossier to claim that Saddam Hussein could deploy weapons of mass destruction at 45 minutes' notice.
Currently, polls show two thirds of voters believing the government did exaggerate the evidence. If Mr. Blair is to win back that lost public trust, he has to begin with his inquiry appearance. Robin Oakley, CNN, London.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
