DU article: Passive Deceit and the Death of David Kelly

[T_i_B]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/09/24_death.html

Dr. David Kelly, the British weapons inspector who took his life earlier this summer, would likely be alive today if the the best and brightest of British intelligence had not engaged in "passive deceit." If they had not allowed a misinterpretation to lodge in the brains of the media and public, Kelly would not have made the allegations that started the unfortunate chain of events culminating in his death.

Deceit can be active or passive. An example of active deceit is to claim that you "know" that Iraq continued to produce chemical and biological weapons from 1999 to 2002 when you merely suspect such was the case. The September 24, 2002 dossier "Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction" gave the false impression that a mere "judgment" - based on limited, unconfirmed intelligence - was an established fact. The misleading formulation was presented both in the main text, prepared by the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) under the supervision of JIC chairman John Scarlett, and in the Prime Minister's Foreword, penned by Alastair Campbell and reviewed and approved by Tony Blair.

Passive deceit occurs when you're in position to correct a misperception but you fail to act. Perhaps you prefer to allow the misperception to lodge in the brains of citizens as fact, because it serves your political interests. An example of passive deceit is the non-response of two intelligence chiefs, Scarlett and MI6's Sir Richard Dearlove, after much of the British public and media assumed from their reading of the dossier that Iraq could launch a WMD attack on Britain's overseas interests (if not on Britain itself) within 45 minutes of an order to do so.

In fact, Iraq could not. The spy bosses knew it could not, yet neither man appeared to make any effort to correct the misimpression or urge anyone in the Blair administration to do so.