Briton defends government's treatment of scientist

LONDON -- Britain's defense secretary denied on Wednesday that his ministry mistreated a weapons adviser who committed suicide after becoming the center of a dispute over the accuracy of an official dossier on Iraq's weapons.

The minister, Geoff Hoon, told a judicial inquiry looking into the death of weapons expert David Kelly, 59, that Kelly was treated well and protected by his bosses during the dispute between the government and the BBC. A BBC reporter had named him as the source of a report saying Britain had "sexed up" the dossier on Iraq's weapons.

However, Hoon acknowledged that the BBC report had led to a major political crisis for Prime Minister Tony Blair and that his government was under tremendous pressure to disprove the BBC's allegations that Blair had exaggerated the Iraq threat.

"What I am resisting ... is any suggestion that there was some sort of conspiracy, some sort of strategy, some sort of plan covertly to make his (Kelly's) name known. That was not the case," said Hoon, the most senior government official to have testified at the inquiry, now in its third week.

Blair is scheduled to testify Thursday.

Kelly committed suicide after he was identified as a possible source of a British Broadcasting Corp. report questioning the integrity of the government's case for war in Iraq. The news report pointed specifically to a claim that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction could be deployed in 45 minutes.

The BBC's allegations -- and the high-profile inquiry being led by Lord Hutton -- pose the worst crisis for Blair in his six years in power. Recent polls show that many Britons question his credibility.

The BBC report cited an unidentified source as having said Blair's office overruled intelligence advice when it included the claim in the dossier. Kelly said he didn't believe he was the report's source, but after he died the BBC said he was.

Hoon was questioned about the steps his ministry took to publicly identify Kelly as the possible BBC source and his decision to allow the Foreign Affairs Committee to question Kelly publicly.

Hoon said he knew that Defense Ministry spokespeople were eventually authorized to confirm Kelly's identity to reporters who guessed it. But he denied claims by critics that this "outing" strategy led to intense public pressure on Kelly and may have contributed to his suicide.

"It appears to me that ... he'd been very well treated," Hoon said of Kelly. "A great deal of support had been offered to him. ... I emphasized at all times the importance of treating Dr. Kelly absolutely fairly."

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