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| 2003/09/22 |
Hoon admits strategy of naming Kelly
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05:01:27 �.�
London, Sept 22 - British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon Monday admitted for the first time approving the strategy of naming former Iraq arms inspector David Kelly, but defended the decision, insisting that the government otherwise would have been accused of a cover-up.
Facing cross-examination at his second appearance at the inquiry into Kelly's death, Hoon said that he authorised the press statement that led to the former Defence Ministry adviser being named as the suspected source that the government exaggerated Iraq's arms threat.
"We had to deal with it. We did not have the option of doing nothing. We had to resolve this matter," he argued.
He said that he did not see the briefing notes but did agree the strategy of confirming Kelly's name to journalists who guessed it.
The defence secretary, a trained lawyer himself, was facing a crimonious questions from the barrister for Kelly's family, Jeremy Gompertz, who suggested that there was a government conspiracy to the arms inspector's name in its war of words with the BBC.
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