The Hindu : Kelly was our source: BBC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 21, 2003

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Kelly was our source: BBC

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON JULY 20. After dragging its feet for weeks, the BBC today admitted that the weapons expert, David Kelly, who committed suicide two days ago, had indeed been the source of its controversial report in which it had quoted an unidentified official as alleging that the Government had "sexed up" a key intelligence dossier in the run-up to the Iraq war.

The BBC's dramatic admission after maintaining that Dr. Kelly had not been its main source provoked anger over its conduct at not having acknowledged this before and there was speculation that heads might roll at the BBC. Dr. Kelly's local Labour MP, Tory Robert Jackson, demanded the resignation of the BBC chairman, Gavyn Davies.

There were also calls for its director-general, Greg Dyke, to quit but the BBC maintained that it had "accurately" reported and interpreted Dr. Kelly's remarks.

The BBC's admission came in a brief statement today from its director of news, Richard Sambrook, who said the corporation had until now owed Dr. Kelly a duty of confidentiality and it was "profoundly sorry" that his involvement as the source for its defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan's report had ended in tragedy.

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