Dr David Kelly

[karen2205]

Do the events surrounding his death not strike anyone as a little odd? He was a senior scientist, not used to media attention yes - but so unstable as to commit suicide because of media attention and tough questioning? It doesn't seem all that likely to me. Why hasn't anyone considered murder?

Comments

[radinden]

Because the implications of it being murder are really not pleasant to contemplate at all. I want my joke about Alistair Campbell's hit squads (made before the body was discovered, I hasten to add) to remain a joke.

[karen2205]

Well of course, though I'm almost 100% certain that I've not heard your joke.

[radinden]

Well that was it, really. Upon hearing that he was missing: "Oh no, Campbell's sent out his hit squad again." It's funnier in a civil service office.

[karen2205]

It's ok, I speak civil service-ese:-)

[brrm.livejournal.com]

I knew a senior scientist who committed suicide. They are people just like everyone else, you know. Or was that not how you meant it?

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

IANKaren and thus probably shouldn't be replying to this, but I think her point was that although he;s more likely, as someone not used to media attention, to react badly to same, that still doesn't make it likely, in her opinion. Thus being a senior scientist makes him more likely, not less, to commit suicide.

[karen2205]

I was being confusing, sorry.

What I meant was that he was a 'senior' person - the science bit isn't particularly relevant, except in so far as he had less knowledge of dealing with the media as someone in a policy position.

As a senior person he would have been subject to a great deal of other types of pressure in his line of work, so there's something quite odd about a different type of pressure causing him to commit suicide.

Whatever he was, he wasn't an idiot - he wouldn't have reached as senior a position as he did if he was: so there's something a bit fishy about it.

[hsenag.livejournal.com]

I agree that it seems a little odd, but what motive would there be for murdering him at this stage, after he gave evidence to the select committee?

The only feasible suggestion I've heard is someone desperate to damage the government, which is possible I guess but seems rather far-fetched.

[puzzlering.livejournal.com]

Ian Duncan Smith was in the SAS y'know...

[karen2205]

There isn't really one, you're right, unless you want to get melodramatic and suggest that he was murdered for providing information that embarrassed the govt, (maybe they thought there was a chance he'd provide even more information and he had to be shut up/discredited for good) and that seems a little extreme even for New Labour.

[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

I was with [namedrop]Geoff Hoon[/namedrop] yesterday morning, and the conversation very nearly took an odd turn when he asked one of my friends whether he was a scientist.

As an aside, Kelly was Ba'hai, and suicide is fairly accepted in that faith. He left his house voluntarily, and had slit wrists, taken painkillers, and as far as we know no sign of a struggle. It would be odd to force-feed someone painkillers, wait long enough for them to be digested, then slit their wrists without a fight.

[karen2205]

Well, as I said to hsenag there's not much point unless you want him dead and you want to make it look like suicide in order to discredit him.

But now that you say suicide is fairly accepted in his faith, I'm inclined to accept that, even though it still seems rather odd, that the pressure placed on him caused it, when he must have been used to working under pressure.

Dr David Kelly

[(Anonymous)]

did u know he was on sadams death sqaud hit list

Murdered by dark actors?

[(Anonymous)]

I think a lot of people suspected he was murdered (http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0310/S00128.htm) by dark actors (http://www.propagandamatrix.com/161003darkactors.html), and some still do.
Anyone who voiced this was likely to be dismissed as a conspiracy theorist. But I also found it strange that this was not suggested by anyone in the media as a possibility.
I don't think Lord Hutton did enough to show that it could not have been made to look like suicide, although most people now probably think that he killed himself.