July 25, 2003	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 24, 1424

LONDON: His last words before the British Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee had been ominous.

“Never talk to a journalist again,” said David Kelly, the British arms expert involved in the row between the British government and the BBC.

He had been cited by the BBC as their main source about the government’s alleged “sexing-up” of intelligence about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Two days after he was asked by the committee what he had learnt from his involvement with the media over the Iraq dossier, the 59- year old biologist was found dead — apparently having committed suicide.

His death marked a turn in the row which shifted the focus of criticism away from Downing Street and firmly onto the BBC, where it has now engulfed the organization at the highest levels.

Another internationally respected media organization could “fall”, the Dutch Volkskrant newspaper commented, referring to the similarly renowned New York Times where a reporter had been caught inventing reports earlier in the year.

Following Kelly’s suicide, it might never be revealed with certainty what he did or did not tell the three BBC journalists who interviewed him — Andrew Gilligan, Gavin Hewitt and Susan Watts.

All three reported — without naming Kelly as their source — that the government had manipulated intelligence information in order to make Prime Minister Tony Blair’s dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction more convincing.

However, the three BBC stories differed considerably in the extent of manipulation they claimed had happened according to Kelly.

Whereas Hewitt emphasized that her source was convinced that Blair’s office had added “some PR” to the dry information in the dossier, Gilligan reported that it was exaggerated with unreliable information and against the will of the intelligence services.

Gilligan pushed these claims even further and claimed in a newspaper report that the manipulation had been ordered by Blair’s communications director and close aide Alastair Campbell.

The government insisted that the BBC formally apologize for their coverage and accused Gilligan of exaggerating Kelly’s criticisms.

Kelly himself told the parliamentary committee he did not think he had been Gilligan’s main source, as he had not said what Gilligan claimed.

The BBC, however, has so far stood by Gilligan and defended his view of the story.

Meanwhile, government members have demanded the resignation of BBC Director-General Greg Dyke and Chairman Gavyn Davies.

The story has an ironic twist as both men used to have close ties with Blair’s party which even led to accusations of cronyism in the past.

Dyke donated 50,000 pounds sterling to the Labour Party in 1998, and Davies is a close friend of Chancellor Gordon Brown.

Some observers say the two men might be anxious to maintain their professional independence precisely because of their past involvement with Labour.

Blair and Campbell have long been critical of the BBC. The government accused the broadcaster of being too Iraq-friendly during the war.—dpa