DAVID KELLY AND VICTORIA'S SECRET
by Jim Rarey
November 12, 2003
No, it's not the Victoria's Secret of the soft porn lingerie ads. This is a different Victoria who may have innocently provided the final impetus for the assassination of David Kelly.
In Part I of this writer's *article, "the Murder of David Kelly" we detailed the numerous red flags in the evidence and testimony submitted at the Hutton inquiry into Kelly's death that showed conclusively that his death was not a suicide. One of the more important "clues" was evidence that his body had been moved after he died to the scene in which it was found. Other testimony showed it to be very doubtful that Kelly had inflicted the knife wounds on his left wrist that severed an unlikely artery but left the most easily reached artery untouched.
In Part II of the article, we detailed Kelly's extensive involvement with and/or knowledge of the bio/chemical weapons programs of the UK, US, and Russia. One author reports Kelly also had visited the Israeli bio/chemical weapons facility. Kelly almost certainly would have been aware of the involvement of two UK scientists at Porton Down simultaneously as paid consultants to South Africa's notorious bioweapons program. He had also served as an inspector in Iraq of that country's WMD programs.
We also recited the deplorable treatment Kelly had been subjected to by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Personnel Department in withholding any pay increase over a three-year period as Kelly approached retirement.
However the public perception of Kelly was as the "single source" of statements made by BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan to the effect that the government had "sexed up" the dossier used to justify the war against Iraq. Kelly had voluntarily disclosed to his MoD superiors he had met with Gilligan but denied he made the statements Gilligan attributed to his source.
In a July 9th press conference, the MoD confirmed that Dr. Kelly was Gilligan's source. Kelly was hauled before the parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee for a grilling but convinced committee members he had not provided statements ascribed to him by Gilligan. The committee chairman, MP Donald Anderson wrote a letter to Secretary of State Jack Straw confirming the committee's judgment and adding their view that, "Dr. Kelly had been poorly treated by his government...."
Kelly told his wife he felt he had been betrayed. We did not understand the depth and duplicitous nature of that betrayal until further reviewing testimony at the Hutton inquiry, particularly that of Richard Hatfield, Director of MoD Personnel.
Hatfield had no personnel management experience when he was appointed to that job in June of 2001. He had been Policy Director of MoD and a member of the Joint Intelligence Committee. On July 7th Hatfield met with Kelly to review (and get Kelly's approval) of a clarification the MoD intended to issue to clarify inaccurate information in Gilligan's report without naming Kelly. What Hatfield knew, but did not tell Kelly, was that MoD intended to confirm Kelly's name as the source to the press if any reporter mentioned his name after the charade of a "Q & A" session designed to lead to Kelly.
When Kelly learned of this deception it must have infuriated him. Indeed, if it had been Hatfield's body that was "found dead in the woods" Dr. Kelly might have been a prime suspect in the death.
Another BBC reporter, Susan Watts, claimed on the evening program Newsnight, that Kelly made statements to her indicating he had lied to the MoD about statements he made to reporters. Later, after Kelly's death, Watts had to back off from that allegation when the inquiry reviewed transcripts of a taped conversation Watts had with Kelly (without Kelly knowing it was being taped) and hearing an enhanced version of the tape recording.
However, in the interim the media, led by Tom Mangold who claimed to be "Kelly's best friend" and until very recently was himself a BBC reporter, claimed Kelly was so shamed by being branded a liar that he killed himself.
However, that was belied by Kelly's actions and communications right up to the morning of the day he disappeared (July 17th). He did not at all appear to be depressed and was looking forward to returning to Iraq to continue the search for weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
However, he did communicate in an e-mail the day before his death that there were "many dark actors playing games." Ironically, that e-mail was to Judith Miller, the New York Times reporter and CFR stalwart who probably was one of those dark actors. Miller, along with two other women was a close confidante of Kelly's. The second was Olivia Bosch, a long-time functionary of the CFR's sister organization in the U.K. the Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA). The third was a U.S. Army intelligence agent named Mai Pederson.
In part two of the article, we suggested that Kelly's mistreatment by MoD had made him a resentful employee and, with all his dangerous knowledge, a prime candidate for elimination.
However, information new to this writer since that article provides a much stronger motive for the assassination of Dr. Kelly.
For several months, Kelly had been communicating with Victoria Roddam, a commissioning editor for Oneworld Publications based in Oxford. One week before Kelly's death, she had sent him an e-mail that said in part, "I think the time is ripe now more than ever for a title which addresses the relationship between government, policy and war - I'm sure you would agree." They had been discussing Kelly authoring a book to be published by Victoria's company.
Another document found among Kelly's effects at his home and removed by police was an undated hand-written note from Roddam with a list of suggested topics to be included in the book, any one of which would have sent the elite in several countries into a containment mode.
One such topic was the ethics of biological warfare, a sticking point that could be responsible for a string of deaths of world-class microbiologists in various countries.
A second one was the involvement of corporations in biological warfare.
A third was the role of the pharmaceutical and biotech industries in biowarfare as well as prevention and containment.
Yet another was the connection between Russia and Iraq with WMD.
Victoria had also listed a look at the proliferation in the arms trade as well a look into the Royal United Services Institute-Whitehall.
Finally, in the document there was a cryptic one-line reference to the rules of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA).
Recall Kelly was a neophyte member of the RIIA and likely would not have known what rules, if any, the organization had on members authoring books on sensitive subjects. He probably would have inquired disclosing his intentions. He also may have discussed it with his fellow member and confidante, Olivia Bosch.
It would have been in character for him to discuss the project with Judith Miller and perhaps seek her advice as she had authored several books on topic. He may even have discussed it with his spiritual advisor Mai Pederson.
At any rate, Kelly's and Victoria's project was no longer a secret (if it ever was). And now David Kelly has joined the growing list of world-class microbiologists who have met mysterious deaths and/or been murdered.
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.)
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The author is a free lance writer based in Romulus, Michigan. He is a former newspaper editor and investigative reporter, a retired customs administrator and accountant, and a student of history and the U.S. Constitution.
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