Hutton whitewash too thin to last

The findings of the inquiry conducted by Lord Hutton into the 
death of Dr David Kelly should have seen the resignation of 
Britain's Secretary of Defence Jeff Hoon and Prime Minister Tony 
Blair.

They should have sent shivers down the spines of George W Bush 
and John Howard, threatening their political careers as well.

Dr Kelly was an expert on Iraqi weapons in the Defence Ministry 
and the whistleblower who exposed Blair's "sexed up dossier" on 
Iraq as a military threat to the world.

The inquiry could have and should have once and for all exposed 
the fact that the US, Britain and Australia went to war on the 
basis of lies, that there are no weapons of mass destruction in 
Iraq, and in particular none that could have threatened Britain 
"within 45 minutes" of an order from Saddam Hussein, as claimed 
by Blair.

Lord Hutton produced the whitewash that the British Government 
and intelligence agencies would have expected of him when 
appointed by Tony Blair to carry out the inquiry.

Instead of Blair and Hoon being nailed, scapegoats were found for 
Kelly's death in the form of BBC management and reporter Andrew 
Gilligan who exposed Blair's lies and the whistleblower Dr Kelly.

The report absolves the guilty and uses the situation to attack 
the integrity of the BBC for doing its job of an independent 
broadcaster which is not only heard in Britain but around the 
world including in Australia.

Hutton has delivered and a quick look at his impeccable 
establishment qualifications shows why he was chosen for the job: 
he is a conservative upper-class white male judge educated at a 
posh all-boys boarding school before going on to Oxford.

He is well known to residents of the six counties of Ulster — 
back in the late 1960s as junior counsel to the Northern Ireland 
Attorney-General and then later in 1988 rising to the top job of 
Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.

He spent much of his career as judge and jury in the notorious 
Northern Ireland kangaroo "Diplock Courts".

These were special non-Jury courts notorious for their inhumane 
treatment and miscarriage of justice.

He distinguished himself (in the eyes of the British ruling 
class) after the Bloody Sunday massacre of civil rights 
protestors in 1972, playing a key role in the judicial cover-up 
called the Widgery Inquiry which absolved the British troops of 
murder.

Hutton also played an important part in attacking Lord Hoffman, a 
Senior Judge who contributed to the decision to arrest and 
extradite the former dictator of Chile, mass murderer General 
Pinochet during his visit to Britain.

Hutton's attack on Lord Hoffman was on the grounds that he had 
links to Amnesty International and hence that invalidated 
Pinochet's arrest.

Lord Hutton said "public confidence in the integrity of the 
administration of justice would be shaken" if Hoffman's ruling 
was upheld.

Hutton was also involved in a more recent ruling that former MI5 
agent David Shayler could not argue he was acting in the public 
interest by revealing secrets.

So it is not surprising that he had no time for another 
whistleblower or a public broadcaster that gave air to 
information from that whistleblower.

Though Blair has been officially exonerated, his credibility and 
political future have has suffered a serious blow.

This was compounded last week when he only just managed to pass 
highly unpopular legislation to increase university fees.

Blair only scraped in with a majority of five in a House where 
Labour had a majority of 161. He got there by intimidating and 
threatening MPs with a vote of confidence in Parliament that 
could have brought down the Labour Government. It was a hollow 
victory with 70 Labour members crossing the floor.

His position is made even more insecure by developments in the US 
where Powell and Bush are starting to express lack of certainty 
about the existence of the biological and chemical weapons and 
nuclear arms program that up to now they were so adamant about.

Also hanging over Blair's head are mounting doubts about the 
"suicide" claim of Dr Kelly. A number of medical scientists have 
pointed out that it was most unlikely that he could have died in 
the way described.