29 January 2004	Thursday	06 Zilhaj 1424

LONDON, Jan 28: Following are Lord Hutton's main findings on the suicide of weapons expert David Kelly and what they mean for the protagonists. Dr Kelly slashed his wrist after being outed as the source of a BBC reporter's claim that Prime Minister Tony Blair's team exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq's weapons to justify war.

The judge's first conclusion was that he was satisfied Kelly had taken his own life and that none of the players in this saga could have foreseen that he would do so.

BLAIR AND AIDES: Blair was given virtually a clean bill of health. Hutton ruled that the prime minister's office bore no blame for Kelly's death and that there was no "underhand strategy" by Blair's officials to expose his name.

Blair did chair a meeting at which it was decided to put out a public statement, a move which led to Kelly's exposure. But Hutton said he was justified in doing so to avoid allegations of a cover-up and that it reflected a recognition that keeping Kelly's name secret would be impossible.

The government did not know a claim that Saddam Hussein could deploy banned weapons at just 45 minutes' notice - the key claim in its September 2002 dossier on Iraq's arsenal - was probably wrong, as the BBC report alleged.

The judge also said Blair's ex-media chief, Alastair Campbell, was entitled to give advice to intelligence chiefs over the dossier. Intelligence chief John Scarlett had only accepted suggestions from Blair's team about the drafting of the dossier if they were consistent with the intelligence available. There was no "sexing up" of the dossier. But Hutton said it was "wholly improper" for Blair's spokesman to tell reporters Kelly may have been a "Walter Mitty" character.

BBC: The public broadcaster faces a litany of criticism. Hutton said reporter Andrew Gilligan's assertion that the government doubted the veracity of the 45 minutes claim was "unfounded" as was a claim that it was not included in the dossier's original draft because intelligence agencies did not believe it was necessarily true.

The judge said no one could be sure of precisely what Kelly told Gilligan when they met but that he believed the scientist did not support the reporter's central assertion.

The BBC editorial system which allowed Gilligan's report to run was "defective", Hutton said, and its management was at fault in failing to investigate fully Campbell's complaints that the report was false.

The BBC governors, who oversee the corporation, were attacked for failing to ascertain whether Gilligan's notes supported his report and for not considering whether the BBC should publicly acknowledge it should not have been broadcast.

DEFENCE SECRETARY: Hoon had been widely touted as a potential fall-guy in the Kelly affair but he scarcely merited a mention in Hutton's report and now looks set to survive.

Hoon overruled advice that Kelly should be spared a public grilling by a parliamentary committee, just days before his death. Hutton said he should not be criticised for that because to shield the scientist would have blown up a political storm.

But the judge said the Ministry of Defence should have told Kelly that they were going to confirm his name if a journalist came up with it. To be told only after the event must have left Kelly feeling "badly let down", Hutton said. But Hutton said individual MoD officials did try to help Kelly and that because of his "intensely private nature", he was not an easy man to help.

DAVID KELLY: By meeting Gilligan and in discussing intelligence matters with him, Kelly breached the Civil Service code of procedure which applied to him, Hutton said.

He concurred with expert advice that Kelly ended his life due to a severe loss of self esteem, his feeling that people had lost trust in him and his dismay at being exposed in the media.

Hutton concluded that Kelly was a devoted husband and father and a public servant who served his country and international community with great distinction. -Reuters