Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said yesterday that a government weapons adviser, whose death triggered a major political crisis, had supported the British government's policy on Iraq.
Hoon, the most senior official to appear before an inquiry into the death of David Kelly, said the scientist told him that he backed the government's drive to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.
Hoon said Kelly made the remarks during a discussion in the Ministry of Defense's cafeteria earlier this year. Hoon said he did not know Kelly's identity at the time and the conversation was a casual encounter.
The defense minister said his ministry supported a government dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction prepared to back the case for war against Iraq. He said British intelligence on Iraq's weapons was reliable.
"It is my view that intelligence is cumulative, that it builds up into a picture," he said.
Prime Minister Tony Blair is scheduled to appear before the inquiry today. A small group protesting the war in Iraq demonstrated outside the Royal Courts of Justice as Hoon testified.
Hoon gave evidence about his involvement in the Defense Ministry's naming of Kelly as the possible source for a BBC report that questioned the government's case for war with Iraq and sparked a huge political storm.
The BBC report alleged that the government dossier about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction had been "sexed up" to assist Blair's argument for war, including a warning that such weapons could be fired within 45 minutes.
Hoon said the ministry tried to determine if Kelly was the sole source for the BBC report. Kelly had approached officials, saying he met with Gilligan, but did not believe he was the source for some of the key claims in the BBC story.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft