Hutton Inquiry Hears Kelly Tape

The official Hutton Inquiry in England is posting daily transcripts and other evidence related to its investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr. David Kelly, who died of an apparent suicide after he was identified as a source for news stories alleging that the British government "sexed up" its weapons dossier on Iraq. Recent evidence includes the transcript of a tape-recorded conversation between Kelly and BBC reporter Susan Watts. During their conversation, Kelly confirmed that he was uneasy with the dossier's claim that Iraq had the capability to deploy chemical weapons and biological weapons in "45 minutes." He adds that the "real concern" about Iraq was "not so much what they have now but what they would have in the future. But that unfortunately wasn't expressed strongly in the dossier because that takes away the case for war." In testimony to Hutton, however, Watts distanced herself somewhat from fellow BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan, who has acknowledged that some of the language "wasn't perfect" in his reports that used Kelly as an anonymous source.