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Journalist testifies at inquiry into UK scientist's death

The reporter who claimed British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government talked up the threat posed by Iraq's weaponry to justify war took the witness box yesterday at an inquiry into the suicide of a British scientist.

Andrew Gilligan, a BBC defense correspondent, threw the government into an angry spin when he reported that a dossier it produced about Iraq's banned weapons was "sexed up" at the behest of Blair's communications chief, Alastair Campbell.

Government weapons expert David Kelly slashed his wrist last month after being named as the source for Gilligan's report.

The opening day of senior judge Lord Hutton's inquiry into Kelly's death posed questions for both the government and the public broadcaster on Monday.

Martin Howard, deputy chief of intelligence at the Ministry of defense, told the inquiry that two defense officials were unhappy with language used in the government dossier on Iraq's weapons published last September.

Blair has seen his popularity ratings fall as no weapons of mass destruction -- the reason he gave for going to war -- have been found in Iraq in the four months since Saddam Hussein was toppled.

Tim Collins, a senior member of the opposition Conservative Party, seized on concerns within intelligence circles about the dossier, which said Saddam could launch deadly weapons within 45 minutes.

"I think the government have got some very serious questions to be pondering," he said.

A poll published on Sunday showed that 41 percent of the public blamed the government for Kelly's death and 68 percent believed it was dishonest.

But Gilligan is sure to face tough questioning too.

Neither Howard nor any of the three other civil servants who testified on Monday supported the claim that Campbell, Blair's closest adviser, intervened to artificially inflate the dossier on Iraq.

The government insists his story is not true.
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