text:
1991 in Afghanistan

The following lists events that happened during 1991 in Afghanistan.

President Mohammad Najibullah, whom the U.S. government predicted would not last the summer when Soviet troops pulled out of Afghanistan in February 1989, continues to rule his war-wracked nation from a precarious position. A Moscow-brokered plan calls for Najibullah to step aside in favor of Prime Minister Khaliqyar, who would serve as a transitional administrative leader until a new government could be elected. However, on October 13 moderate guerrilla officials in Pakistan highlight the remaining obstacles to peace by withdrawing their support for Khaliqyar. The mujaheddin say his association with Najibullah makes him unacceptable. Afghanistan is like a maimed patient after 13 years of civil war. The streets of Kabul are full of one-legged men, victims of land mines. The government says it has released more than 19,000 prisoners in the past four years and has abolished the special tribunals set up to try those accused of political crimes. Meanwhile, fierce fighting continues between government troops and the Muslim guerrillas. The guerrillas launch their long-planned assault on Najibullah's hometown, the garrison town of Gardez in southeastern Afghanistan, and coordinate a series of attacks aimed at demoralizing the Afghan Army and destabilizing the government, but none of the attacks is decisive. In 1991 the guerrillas control 6 of Afghanistan's 31 provinces. In their only major gain during the year, they overrun a series of government-held garrisons to gain control of strategic areas along the border with the breakaway Soviet republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. They also hold the narrow corridor linking Afghanistan with China.

Incumbents

 * President: Mohammad Najibullah
 * Chairman of the Council of Ministers: Fazal Haq Khaliqyar
 * Vice Presidents: Abdul Rahim Hatif,	Mohammed Rafie, Abdul Hamid Mohtat, Abdul Wahed Sorabi and Sultan Ali Keshtmand

September 1991
Najibullah proposes a five-point peace plan to end the 13-year war that has killed an estimated 1.5 million people and maimed hundreds of thousands of others. The plan calls for an end to weapons shipments to the warring factions, a cease-fire, and an intra-Afghan dialogue leading to the formation of a national unity government mandated to oversee elections. The national unity government would share power with the Pakistan-based government-in-exile, guerrilla commanders, Afghans living in exile, and the deposed king, Zahir Shah. Besides organizing elections, it would rewrite Afghanistan's constitution and oversee the return of the more than five million refugees who had fled to Pakistan and Iran. However, the Muslim guerrillas accuse Najibullah of merely repackaging old ideas in order to portray himself as a peacemaker. Most of the guerrillas vow to continue fighting until he is overthrown.

September
In a surprise move, the government restores the citizenship of Zahir Shah, who has been living in virtual banishment in Italy for 18 years. Nearly 77, Zahir Shah had been overthrown in 1973, and he and his family were stripped of their Afghan citizenship after the Communist revolution of 1978. Zahir Shah is under pressure from the Western countries (including the United States) not to respond to Najibullah's call for National Reconciliation because if Zahir Shah returns to Afghanistan and joins the government, most of the traditionalist mujahideen would quit fighting against the government and would probably join the government.

In mid-September the U.S. and the Soviet Union take the first step toward a negotiated settlement by agreeing to end arms shipments to their respective clients, the rebels and the government in Kabul, as of January 1, 1992.

Sports
On March 2, 1991, in San Diego, California, Waheed Karim set an Afghan national record in the 5,000 meters (16:04.7).

title: 1991 in Afghanistan


text:
1996 in Afghanistan

The following lists events that happened during 1996 in Afghanistan.

Incumbents

 * De facto head of state: Mohammed Omar
 * President: Burhanuddin Rabbani
 * Prime Minister: Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai (until 26 June), Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (starting 26 June)
 * Vice President: Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi (left)

April

 * April 3 – About 1,000 Muslim clergymen elect Taliban leader Mohammed Omar as amir al-momineen (commander of the faithful), denouncing Rabbani as unfit to lead the Islamic nation.

May

 * May 18 – the Taliban provided protection to Al-Qaeda's leader Osama bin Laden after relocating to Afghanistan following his expulsion from Sudan.

June

 * June 26 – Hekmatyar, whose Hezb-i-Islami forces have bombarded the government in Kabul until driven from their positions by the Taliban, is sworn in again as prime minister. He immediately attempts to open contacts with northern Afghanistan's powerful warlord, General Dostum. From his power base in Mazari Sharif, Dostum continues to control a virtually independent northern Afghanistan. On July 3 President Rabbani names a 10-man cabinet under Prime Minister Hekmatyar. Foreign minister: Abdul Rahim Ghafoorzai; defense: Waheedullah Sabawoon; finance: Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal; interior: Mohammad Yunus Qanuni.

September

 * September 5 – The Taliban launch a rapid offensive in eastern Afghanistan. Their forces capture the city of Jalalabad, together with important areas in Nangarhar and Laghman provinces. With these territorial advances most of Afghanistan's traditionally Pashtun homelands are united under Taliban control. The gains include Kabul's main road to Pakistan and seal the fate of Rabbani's mostly Tajik government.
 * September 27 – The long power struggle between Afghanistan's armed factions takes a decisive turn when Taliban militias enter Kabul, where they meet little resistance from government forces. The Taliban's first act is to execute the last Democratic Republic of Afghanistan president Mohammad Najibullah along with his brother Shahpur Ahmadzai. Najibullah had been living inside a United Nations compound in Kabul since 1992. The new state, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was recognized only by three UN member states: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

October

 * October 4 – In Almaty, Kazakhstan, Russia and four other Central Asian countries adopted a declaration expressing concern regarding the conflict in Afghanistan, assessing it as a direct threat to the Commonwealth of Independent States.

November

 * November 11 – In Tehran, Iran, Afghanistan's ousted president Burhanuddin Rabbani arrived for talks with high-ranking Iranian officials to discuss developments in Afghanistan.

December

 * December 2 – The season's first snowfall in Badghis Province, Afghanistan severely hampered fighting between Taliban and Afghan Northern Alliance forces, and halted humanitarian relief efforts.
 * December 3 -
 * Former Afghan head of state Babrak Karmal died in Moscow, Russia.
 * Ehsanullah Ehsan, the chairman of the Taliban's Central Bank, declared most Afghani notes in circulation to be worthless and cancelled the contract with the Russian firm that had been printing the currency since 1992. Ehsan accused the firm of sending new shipments of Afghani notes to ousted president Burhanuddin Rabbani in northern Takhar Province.
 * In Kabul, Mazari Sharif, Geneva and New York the United Nations launched its fifth annual appeal for $133 million in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, but warned Taliban leaders that policies toward conduct of women would have to change.
 * In Jalalabad, Afghanistan, the local Department for Promoting the Good and Suppressing the Bad issued a directive prohibiting taxi drivers from giving rides to women wearing chadors.
 * UNICEF announced that it would stop funding education projects in Kabul, Afghanistan if girls were not allowed by the Taliban to go to school.
 * December 4 -
 * In Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan faction leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar joined the anti-Taliban Afghan Northern Alliance formed by ousted president Burhanuddin Rabbani and northern militia leader General Abdul Rashid Dostum.
 * In Kabul, Afghanistan, Radio Shariat (Radio Islamic Law) announced that women should be covered from head to foot.
 * December 5 -
 * In Tehran, Iran, Afghanistan's ousted president Burhanuddin Rabbani arrived for talks with President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to discuss developments in Afghanistan.
 * The Taliban punished 225 women for violating Taliban clothing rules, and punished several men for violating Taliban beard rules. The men were advised to "grow thick beards and small moustaches within one and a half months."
 * December 6 -
 * In Istalif, Afghanistan enemy troops pounded Taliban positions with heavy artillery and rockets, prompting Taliban troops to pull out of the village.
 * United Nations special envoy Norbert Holl met with Taliban Foreign Minister Mullah Mohammed Ghous.
 * A Russian military airplane transported the body of former Afghan President Babrak Karmal to Mazari Sharif to be buried.
 * December 7 -
 * A United Nations 10-seater Beechcraft airplane carrying Tajik opposition leader Sayid Abdulloh Nuri and seven other Tajik passengers from Mashhad, Iran to Taloqan, Afghanistan was intercepted by Taliban aircraft and forced to land in Shindand.
 * Pakistani Foreign Secretary Najmuddin Shaikh met with rebel forces in Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan.
 * December 8 -
 * In Shindand, Afghanistan, the Taliban released the United Nations a 10-seater Beechcraft airplane they had forced to land the previous day, and had it flown to Taliban headquarters in Kandahar for repairs rather than allowing it to complete its flight to Kunduz.
 * Taliban officials met with Pakistani Foreign Secretary Najmuddin ShaikhThe subject discussed as during Mr. Shaikh's meeting with Dostum and Dr. Abdullah in Mazar Sharif a day earlier was the working out of ceasefire arrangements between the contending factions in Afghanistan and suggesting talks with the Northern Alliance for the formation of a coalition government
 * Taliban leadership nominated Abdul Hakeem Mujahed as Afghanistan's ambassador to the United Nations.
 * In Kunduz, Afghanistan, United Nations special envoy Norbert Holl met with ousted commander Ahmad Shah Massoud to discuss U.N. proposals for an Afghan ceasefire, the demilitarization of Kabul, and the formation of a neutral Afghan Police Force.
 * December 10 – In Kandahar, Afghanistan, United Nations special envoy Norbert Holl with senior Taliban officials.
 * December 12 – In Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan, United Nations special envoy Norbert Holl met with rebel leader General Abdul Rashid Dostum.

Births

 * July 7 – Zekeria Ebrahimi, actor

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: 1996 in Afghanistan


text:
Sangharakshita

Dennis Philip Edward Lingwood (26 August 1925 – 30 October 2018), known more commonly as Sangharakshita, was a British spiritual teacher and writer. In 1967, he founded the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO), which was renamed the Triratna Buddhist Community in 2010.

Sangharakshita was and remains a highly controversial figure. For his supporters, he was a spiritual pioneer who introduced Eastern religious teachings to the West. For his detractors, he was a sexual predator who used his position to abuse vulnerable young men.

Early life
Sangharakshita was born Dennis Philip Edward Lingwood on 26 August 1925 in Tooting, London. After being diagnosed with a heart condition he spent much of his childhood confined to bed, and used the opportunity to read widely. His first encounter with non-Christian thought was with Madame Helena Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled, upon reading which, he later said, he realised that he had never been a Christian. The following year he came across two Buddhist texts, the Diamond Sutra and the Platform Sutra, and concluded that he had always been a Buddhist.

As Dennis Lingwood, he joined the Buddhist Society at the age of 18, and formally became a Buddhist in May 1949 by taking the Three Refuges and Five Precepts from the Burmese monk, U Thittila.

He was conscripted into the army in 1943, and served in India, Ceylon, now known as Sri Lanka, and Singapore as a radio engineer in the Royal Corps of Signals. It was in Ceylon, while in contact with the swamis in the (Hindu) Ramakrishna Mission, that he developed the desire to become a monk. In 1946, after the cessation of hostilities, he was transferred to Singapore, where he made contact with Buddhists and learned to meditate.

India
Having been conscripted into the British Army and posted to India, at the end of the war Sangharakshita handed in his rifle, left the camp where he was stationed and deserted. He moved about in India for a few years, with a Bengali novice Buddhist, the future Buddharakshita, as his companion, meditating and experiencing for himself the company of eminent spiritual personalities of the times, like Mata Anandamayi, Ramana Maharishi and Swamis of Ramakrishna Mission. They spent fifteen months in 1947–48, in the Ramakrishna Mission centre at Muvattupuzha with the consent of Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Agamananda. In May 1949 he became a novice monk, or sramanera, in a ceremony conducted by the Burmese monk, U Chandramani, who was then the most senior monk in India. It was then that he was given the name Sangharakshita (Pali: Sangharakkhita), which means "protected by the spiritual community." Sangharakshita took full bhikkhu ordination the following year, with another Burmese bhikkhu, U Kawinda, as his preceptor (upādhyāya), and with the Ven. Jagdish Kashyap as his teacher (ācārya). He studied Pali, Abhidhamma, and Logic with Jagdish Kashyap at Benares (Varanasi) University. In 1950, at Kashyap's suggestion, Sangharakshita moved to the hill town of Kalimpong close to the borders of India, Bhutan, Nepal. and Sikkim, and only a few miles from Tibet. Kalimpong was his base for 14 years until his return to England in 1966.

During his time in Kalimpong, Sangharakshita formed a young men's Buddhist association and established an ecumenical centre for the practice of Buddhism (the Triyana Vardhana Vihara). He also edited the Maha Bodhi Journal and established a magazine, Stepping Stones. In 1951, Sangharakshita met the German-born Lama Govinda, who was the first Buddhist Sangharakshita had known "to declare openly the compatibility of art with the spiritual life", and who gave Sangharakshita a greater appreciation for Tibetan Buddhism. Govinda had begun his explorations of Buddhism in the Theravada tradition, studying briefly under the German-born bhikkhu, Nyanatiloka Mahathera (who gave him the name Govinda), but after meeting the Gelug Lama, Tomo Geshe Rinpoche, in 1931, he turned towards Tibetan Buddhism. Sangharakshita's spiritual explorations were to follow a similar trajectory.

Sangharakshita was ordained in the Theravada school, but said he became disillusioned by what he felt was the dogmatism, formalism, and nationalism of many of the Theravadin bhikkhus he met and became increasingly influenced by Tibetan Buddhist teachers who had fled Tibet after the Chinese invasion in the 1950s. Two years after his meeting with Lama Govinda he began studying with the Gelug Lama, Dhardo Rinpoche. Sangharakshita also received initiations and teachings from teachers who included Jamyang Khyentse, Dudjom Rinpoche, as well as Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. It was Dhardo Rinpoche who was to give Sangharakshita Mayahana ordination. Later, Sangharakshita also studied with a Ch'an teacher, Yogi Chen (Chen Chien-Ming), along with another English monk, Bhikkhu Khantipalo. Together, the three men turned their ongoing seminar on Buddhist theory and practice into a book, Buddhist Meditation, Systematic and Practical.

Sangharakshita was an associate of B. R. Ambedkar. In 1952, Sangharakshita met Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956), the chief architect of the Indian constitution and India's first law minister. Ambedkar, who had been a so-called Untouchable, converted to Buddhism, along with 380,000 other Untouchables (now known as "dalits") on 14 October 1956. Ambedkar and Sangharakshita had been in correspondence since 1950, and the Indian politician had encouraged the young monk to expand his Buddhist activities. Ambedkar appreciated Sangharakshita's "commitment to a more critically engaged Buddhism that did not at the same time dilute the cardinal precepts of Buddhist thought". Ambedkar initially invited Sangharakshita to perform his conversion ceremony, but the latter refused, arguing that U Chandramani should preside. Ambedkar died six weeks later, leaving his conversion movement leaderless, and Sangharakshita, who had just arrived in Nagpur to visit dalit Buddhists, continued what he felt was Ambedkar's work by lecturing to former Untouchables, and presiding over a ceremony in which a further 200,000 Untouchables converted. For the next decade, Sangharakshita spent much of his time visiting dalit Buddhist communities in western India.

Return to the West
In 1964, Sangharakshita was invited to help with a dispute at the Hampstead Buddhist Vihara in north London, where he proved to be a popular teacher. His ecumenical approach and failure to conform to some of the trustees' expectations was said to contrast with the strict Theravadin-style Buddhism at the vihara. Although originally planning to stay only six months, he decided to settle in England, but after he returned to India for a farewell tour, the Vihara's trustees voted to expel him.

Sangharakshita returned to England and in April 1967 founded the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order. The Western Buddhist Order was founded a year later, when he ordained the first dozen men and women. The first ordinations were attended by a Zen monk, a Shin priest and two Theravadin monks.

Satisfied neither with the lay-Buddhist approach of the Buddhist Society, nor the monastic approach of the Hampstead vihara—the two dominant Buddhist organisations in Britain at that time—he created what he said was a new form of Buddhism. The order would be neither lay nor monastic, and members take a set of ten precepts that are a traditional part of Mahayana Buddhism.

Initially, Sangharakshita led all classes and conducted all ordinations. He gave lectures drawing on what he felt were the essential teachings of all the major Buddhist schools. He led major retreats twice a year and frequent day and weekend events. As the order grew, and centres became established across Britain and in other countries, order members took more responsibility until, in August 2000, he devolved his responsibilities as the head of the Western Buddhist Order to eight men and women who formed what was called the "College of Public Preceptors." In 2005 Sangharakshita donated all of his books and artefacts, with an insurance value of £314,400, to the charitable trust dedicated to his 'support and assistance' as well as enabling his office to 'maintain contact with his disciples and friends worldwide' and to 'support them in activities'. In 2015 this trust had an income of £140K, and for 2016 it was £73K.

Sangharakshita died of pneumonia and sepsis on 30 October 2018, at the age of 93.

Allegations of sexual coercion and abuse
In 1997, Sangharakshita became the focus of controversy when The Guardian newspaper published complaints concerning some of his sexual relationships with FWBO members during the 1970s and 1980s. For a decade following these public revelations, he declined to give any response to concerns from within the movement that he had misused his position as a Buddhist teacher to sexually exploit young men. In 2010 it was reported that he had addressed the controversy, stressing that his sexual partners were, or appeared to be, willing, and he expressed regret for any mistakes. In 2016 a local BBC channel showed a report based on interviews with three men, one under the age of homosexual consent at the time (twenty-one), who claimed they had been pressured into having sex with Sangharakshita, being told it would help them “make spiritual progress” to have homosexual sex despite being heterosexual. In 2017 the Triratna Buddhist Order hired an accredited facilitator to work directly with any individuals feeling harmed as a result of past sexual involvement with Sangharakshita. In 2020, a group within the Order published a report resulting from investigations into these allegations aiming to "establish the facts related to Sangharakshita's sexual behaviour". The report included acknowledgements that Sangharakshita did "not always recognise the power imbalance between student and teacher", and that he "was not always willing or able to have meaningful dialogue after the sexual involvement had ended".

Contributions and legacy
Sangharakshita has been described as "among the first Westerners who devoted their life to the practice as well as the spreading of Buddhism" and also as a "prolific writer, translator, and practitioner of Buddhism". As a Westerner seeking to use Western concepts to communicate Buddhism, he has been compared to Teilhard de Chardin, termed "the founding father of Western Buddhism," and noted as "a skilled innovator in his efforts to translate Buddhism to the West."

For Sangharakshita, as with other Buddhists, the factor that unites all Buddhist schools is not any particular teaching, but the act of "going for refuge" (sarana-gamana), which he regards "not simply as a formula but as a life-changing event" and as an ongoing "reorientation of one's life away from mundane concerns to the values embodied in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha." Any decisive act upon the spiritual path—renunciation, ordination, initiation, the attainment of Stream Entry, and the arising of the bodhicitta—are manifestations or examples of Going for Refuge.

Sangharakshita has acknowledged that “Triratna sometimes bears the mark not of the dharma but of my own particular personality”. Among his distinctive views is his use of the scientific theory of evolution as a metaphor for spiritual development, referring to biological evolution as the "lower evolution" and spiritual development as being a form of self-directed "higher evolution". Though he considers women and men equally capable of Enlightenment and ordained them equally right from the start, he has also said he had "tentatively reached the conclusion that the spiritual life is more difficult for women because they are less able than men to envisage...something purely transcendental..." He also criticised heterosexual nuclear relationships as tending to neuroticism. The FWBO has been accused of cult-like behaviour in the 1970s and 80s for encouraging heterosexual men to engage in sexual relationships with men in order to get over their fear of intimacy with men and obtain spiritual growth. He has drawn parallels between Buddhism and the spirit of the Romantics, who believed that what art reveals has great moral and spiritual significance, and has written of "the religion of art."

Including compilations of his talks, Sangharakshita has authored more than 60 books. Meanwhile, the Triratna Buddhist Community, which he founded as the FWBO, has been described as "perhaps the most successful attempt to create an ecumenical international Buddhist organization". The community is one of the three largest Buddhist movements in Britain, and has a presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa. More than a fifth of all Order members, as of 2006, were in India, where Dr. Ambedkar's mission to convert dalits to Buddhism continues. Martin Baumann, a scholar of Buddhism, has estimated that there are 100,000 people worldwide who are affiliated with the Triratna Buddhist Community.

For Buddhologist Francis Brassard, Sangharakshita's major contribution is "without doubt his attempt to translate the ideas and practices of [Buddhism] into Western languages." The non-denominational nature of the Triratna Buddhist Community, its equal ordination for both men and women, and its evolution of new forms of shared practice, such as what it calls team-based right livelihood projects, have been cited as examples of such "translation", and also as the creation of a "Buddhist society in miniature within the Western, industrialized world". For Martin Baumann, the Triratna Buddhist Community serves as proof that "Western concepts, such as a capitalistic work ethos, ecological considerations, and a social-reformist perspective, can be integrated into the Buddhist tradition".

Biography

 * Anagarika Dharmapala: A Biographical Sketch
 * Great Buddhists of the Twentieth Century

Books on Buddhism

 * The Eternal Legacy: An Introduction to the Canonical Literature of Buddhism
 * A Survey of Buddhism: Its Doctrines and Methods Through the Ages
 * The Ten Pillars of Buddhism
 * The Three Jewels: The Central Ideals of Buddhism

Edited seminars and lectures on Buddhism

 * The Bodhisattva Ideal
 * Buddha Mind
 * The Buddha's Victory
 * Buddhism for Today – and Tomorrow
 * Creative Symbols of Tantric Buddhism
 * The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment
 * The Essence of Zen
 * A Guide to the Buddhist Path
 * Human Enlightenment
 * The Inconceivable Emancipation
 * Know Your Mind
 * Living with Awareness
 * Living with Kindness
 * The Meaning of Conversion in Buddhism
 * New Currents in Western Buddhism
 * Ritual and Devotion in Buddhism
 * The Taste of Freedom
 * The Yogi's Joy: Songs of Milarepa
 * Tibetan Buddhism: An Introduction
 * Transforming Self and World
 * Vision and Transformation (also known as The Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path)
 * Who Is the Buddha?
 * What Is the Dharma?
 * What Is the Sangha?
 * Wisdom Beyond Words

Essays and papers

 * Alternative Traditions
 * Crossing the Stream
 * Going For Refuge
 * The Priceless Jewel
 * Aspects of Buddhist Morality
 * Dialogue between Buddhism and Christianity
 * The Journey to Il Covento
 * St Jerome Revisited
 * Buddhism and Blasphemy
 * Buddhism, World Peace, and Nuclear War
 * The Bodhisattva Principle
 * The Glory of the Literary World
 * A Note on The Burial of Count Orgaz
 * Criticism East and West
 * Dharmapala: The Spiritual Dimension
 * With Allen Ginsburg in Kalimpong (1962)
 * Indian Buddhists
 * Ambedkar and Buddhism

Memoirs, autobiography and letters

 * Facing Mount Kanchenjunga: An English Buddhist in the Eastern Himalayas
 * From Genesis to the Diamond Sutra: A Western Buddhist's Encounters with Christianity
 * In the Sign of the Golden Wheel: Indian Memoirs of an English Buddhist
 * Moving Against the Stream: The Birth of a New Buddhist Movement
 * The Rainbow Road: From Tooting Broadway to Kalimpong
 * The History of My Going for Refuge
 * Precious Teachers
 * Travel Letters
 * Through Buddhist Eyes

Poetry and art

 * The Call of the Forest and Other Poems
 * Complete Poems 1941–1994
 * Conquering New Worlds: Selected Poems
 * Hercules and the Birds
 * In the Realm of the Lotus
 * The Religion of Art

Polemic

 * Forty Three Years Ago: Reflections on My Bhikkhu Ordination
 * The FWBO and 'Protestant Buddhism': An Affirmation and a Protest
 * The Meaning of Orthodoxy in Buddhism
 * Was the Buddha a Bhikkhu? A Rejoinder to a Reply to 'Forty Three Years Ago'.

Translation

 * The Dhammapada

title: Sangharakshita


text:
User talk:1 AAA Texas-'Texian' Rose, Ya'll

Dateline: July 18, 2003 Via:      The Tex-ExPress* By:       Texas Rose** ___!Newbie Alert!___ Greetings,                                                                                Just logged in as a new user. Also, only found this W.onderful W.orld 'o the W.eb  Site  a few days ago and I am already becoming a     "Wikiholic" (sp?) as it is obvious that there are     many inteligent and diverse individuals here! :-)   Yes!  :-) ing!, despite my AARP membership, et al, my being still exudes the Beat Generation... and yes, *especially* being from Texas, I was (am?) a total outsider/outcast, but succumbed/digressed into 'conformity' while raising my children, least they be out on the fringe...unless they so chose to be for themselves...which, they did not. Nope! They followed on 'The Road Well Traveled' in        their father's, grandfather's/mother's footsteps, and fit very well into the Texas 'swing'; (pun       slid right on in very smoothly here!) from pee-wee    to Varsity "Friday Night Football" for the boys and pee-wee to Varsity Co-Head Cheerleader for the only daughter. I did my very best to encourage ...The Arts...ballet lessons for her as well as piano lessons for both genders and later incorporating sax & trumpet lessons as well, (*no* B flat clainet for my only daughter! No Way!) but alas, to no avail. However, they stayed true to their own hearts and followed the beat of their own drummer(s), respectivly, therefore I'll [Eagles] ..."stop moanin', & bitchin' & trhowin' a fit...(and) get over it! get over it!" (Yeah, right! Well, I am tryin'!  For real.  These tramatic events take not only their toll on a soul like mine, but takes time as well!  Gah!  I'm not Sandra Dee!             For any younger readers, 'Gah' is = to 'Duh' and Sandra Dee is = to ??? (ya'll let me know if there is an = female like Sandra Dee in pop nowdays...or, a male = to Troy Donahue/Tab Hunter!) Dylan's still one of my favs, along with several others,     females included in the 'ol beatnik / beat-gen       & jazz crowd!                                        Although I am a Christian now, but don't attend 'church' services anywhere because I was             born & bred into the Southen (leave blank) (hint: it starts with a 'B') Convention and was, literally, and only a few hours later, back to Training Union/ Evening Service *every* Sunday morning & nite, but also, Prayer Meeting on Wednesday nites, which wasn't too bad as 99.99% of the squares/phonies     nites for (leave blank---one deal for the girls, another for the boys---and Visitation for the adults. Then, a 'break', Gee! It was, but of course!,       *"Friday Night Football*"!!! *Confession*...       I really did luv the Band & Twrillers (baton) at Half-Time...and, I did make it thru tryouts to       make one of the Majorettes (baton Twrillers) as I had endured playing the B flat clainet for a year just so I could try out as that was a prereq to try out and even as a 2-3 yr. old little girl, I'd always been mesmerized by twrilling the baton, so I guess I'll have to admit that *this* side of being a square created a *right* angle for me that went along very well with being a Native (generational) Ture Blue, Born & Bred Native Texian! However, the Majorette thing didn't last and I pro-re-gressed*** to my ture loves which manifested at 2 to 3 yrs. of age on my grandmother's upright Grand piano, (she willed it to me and it *still* had 'the sound' (great sound) as I practiced my way into classical & jazz (and nat', ragtime/pop/'n rock 'n roll!).  Then, when I wasn't practicing I'd do my own crayola pictures which was later replaced with oils on canvas and last but not at all the least, reading fairy tales, quoting nursery  rhymes and then going to poetry readings, first at the public library, and then! aha! found a (*one*)   coffee house in Dallas where I heard the exotic      words/wording of 'The Rubayyat', etc. and listened to selected readings of all the great writers & poets known to the Engligh language...and after a few excursions to the coffee house, my report cards never reflected anything less than an A+ in English literature.  Ironically, however, my all time favorite book is The Book, The Bible...the book of Proverbs, all of the Psalms, Genesis,... which took me into the study of other languages and linguistics and somehow all of the above... music, color, literature, especially The Bible       took me into the realms of science and an            inward understaning, somehow, of what is best described, I believe, as 'abstact' mathematics/geomerty; astronomy, natural light, or its opposite, absolute darkness, electircity,     magnatism, geology, and of course, all the spectrms of color and sound, or its opposite, absolute darkness. What's all this got to do with Texas? Well, the universe(s) has/have everything...which leads to a qusi-logical conclusion...so does The Republic of Texas!
 * forced* to attend Sunday School/Morning Service
 * did not* show up, then back again on Thrusday

Well, everything/anything is possible, isn't it? Anyway, *this* article was more of a personal introduction and a hope of...                       ..............................."Getting To Know You"  (from the musical,)                                   ('The King and I')                                                                                Thanks for allowing me to write this article and an advance Thank you for giving me some time to     learn the 'how to' & 'how not to' use and write here and elsewhere, and also, to brush out some of  the cobwebs in that part of my brain that houses some of the basic html that I haven't used in       awhile! ;-) which will, hopefully, provide you with info w/links on The Republic of Texas!                                                                                Best Regards,                                        Texas Rose*                                                 &                                               The Tex-ExPress**                                                                                *Registered Trade Mark                                **Copyright, All Rights Reserved


text:
Talk:Edith Stein

EB Article
We have a problem here: this article is clearly derived from the EB article, with most formulations copied verbatim. I'll start to change the most egregious ones. The other contributions of User:ClaudeMuncey need to be checked as well. AxelBoldt 12:16 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)

There was a specific reason Hitler ordered the arrest of all so-called "non-Aryan" Catholics in the Netherlands. I'm adding it. What defines an Aryan? What is the "EB article?" --Maryevelyn 03:59, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)

On what basis can Edith Stein be labelled a "feminist"? - Nunh-huh 04:04, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Missing in the article on Edith Stein
A list of Edith Stein's main works is missing in the article. Her main work, Finite and Eternal Being (Endliches und Ewiges Sein), written after becoming a Carmelite, should be mentioned. It is an important synthesis of modern phenomenology and medieval scholastisism (Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus). Helge Erik Solberg (heesolbe@online.no)

Saint Teresa Benedicta or Saint Edith Stein?
The article says that she was "known after her reception into the Carmelite Order as Teresa Benedicta of the Cross and canonized under the latter name in 1998". Is that true? While she was still only "Blessed", she was referred to as "Blessed Teresa Benedicta of the Cross", but I think that when she was canonized, she was referred to as "Saint Edith Stein". Not that there was any Church ruling on it – it just happened that way. Does anyone know if my impression is correct? Ann Heneghan (talk) 22:31, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

 * Although gets called Saint Edith Stein, I think Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross is more correct and official because it is the name used in her canonization homily by Pope John Paul II and in an apostolic letter  about making her co-patroness of Europe the year after. GhostGirl 19:48, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

 * Some suggestions about formatting can be found here: WikiProject Saints. They may help answer some "Saint" questions. :)   Elonka 04:27, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

 * It's not a big issue. Saint Bernadette of Lourdes was probably formally canonised as "Saint Marie Bernarde", her religious name in the convent at Nevers, but she's universally known by her baptismal name Bernadette.  JackofOz 05:51, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
 * When she is invocated in the Litany of Saints or mentioned in the Anaphora or the missale, she's referred to "Heilige Teresia Benedicta vom Kreuz" . HTH --Turris Davidica (talk) 09:04, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

Polish Saint?
Edith Stein was born in Breslau, Germany, she was German of Jewish religion, converted to Catholicism, the pope canonized her as co-patroness of Europe.

Yet Wikipedia states: Edith Stein was a Polish saint. Why ??? MG 3/22/2006

Good question! Any answers out there? Dr. Dan 15:59, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

 * Probably, some Pole confused his dreams with reality.

217.85.110.56 23:59, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

Breslau, Gemany is now Wroclaw, Poland.There you have it. And I'm Polish, thanks very much. Eddisford 23:35, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Some clean-up
Redacted the "martyr" controversy at the end, which had started to wander; it still needs at least one valid citation. (The deleted link was not specific.) Also cleaned up that opening paragraph. Since the article title is "Edith Stein," the article should begin with that name. This way the paragraph can flow smoothly and concisely from her birth to canonization. The best way to deal with the was-she-a-German-or-Polish-saint question is not to use either. J M Rice 04:07, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

Renunciation of faith at 13?
I thought that was a bit of a stretch, and did a Google search. EWTN, of all places, does not mention a renunciation of faith, only that she converted some years later, and Catholic Education says something similar (she no longer practiced). The Vatican claims a conscious giving up of religion, but does not date it; it is most certainly a later recollection, as it is an attributed quote.

Only American Catholic adds an active voice to this, and frankly, it seems a little too sensational in the interests of justifying her sainthood through a life that was apparently more than ordinary.

Are there any objections to removal of that sentence based on a lack of tangible evidence to support the specificity of the claim? MSJapan 00:03, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes, there are. Although I don't know any English source there are many German-language sources confirming this fact like this one. Besides, it doesn't seem too sensational because there is really nothing sensational about this.--Sokrat3000 09:49, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Maybe I should restate: in effect, this is a question of semantics - there is a big difference between "stopped practicing religion" and "renounced faith". The article says the latter, which I think is a pretty major thing for someone to do at the age of 13, and that claim of 13 is not supported by any English sources, not even the Vatican.  Nor is it supported by your German citation - the link gives no solid dates regarding her atheism, and no dated indication that that happened at any point prior to 1922.

 * I find this article (listed in your citation) interesting, and I will follow up on it when I am at the library, but I figured I would point it out, because it may have a different claim. Carroll, James. 1999. “The Saint and the Holocaust: In canonizing Edith Stein, has the Church misrepresented her life, and history?”, The New Yorker 7.6.1999, S. 52-57.

 * And James Carroll has a book on this subject as well, available from Powell's here. So, there's probably more to this. Now, I may or may not be right, but there's certainly more to this. MSJapan 10:04, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

 * One other quick note - atheist or not, Edith Stein was still considered Jewish (as far as anybody on either side was concerned) until she converted. MSJapan 10:08, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

Edith-Stein Zentrum, Balingen
Just an additional note: there is a kindergarten in the Edith-Stein Zentrum, in Balingen Germany, in addition to the schools mentioned in the main article.

Volunteered to die?
I vaguely remember hearing that she asked to die first before others in the camp. --Gbleem 13:19, 15 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I think that you are thinking of Maximilian Kolbe who came forward to die in place of a man who had a family. T.E. Goodwin 20:09, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Order by Hitler
It seems unlikely to me that Hitler made a retaliatory order to arrest monks and nuns of Jewish descent. I think this order is more likely to have been made by Arthur_Seyss-Inquart, the head of the (Dutch) Gestapo, or Hanns Albin Rauter. Andries 02:17, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

St. Edith Stein should redirect here.Catholic monarchist 15:42, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Sounds a bit Babelfishy
Not quite sure what this means: "But she was rejected as a woman with further habilitational studies at the University of Freiburg [2]and failed to successfully reach in a habilitational study "Psychische Kausalität" (Psychic Causality) at the University of Göttingen in 1919." Can anyone clarify? Tsuguya (talk) 14:44, 26 April 2010 (UTC)
 * A bit obscure to be sure, and the footnote sheds no light. I've rewritten based on pw:fr, which goes into some detail. Sparafucil (talk) 06:48, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

Is this what you rewrote? "But because she was a woman Husserl did not support her submission to the University of Freiburg or her habilitational thesis (a prerequisite for an academic chair)[2]  and her other thesis ("Psychische Kausalität" [Psychic Causality] at the University of Göttingen in 1919) were likewise rejected." It is a bit unclear, unless "or" is a misprint for "of", and "were" should be "was".--Richardson mcphillips (talk) 14:07, 27 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Both guesses correct! Sparafucil (talk) 21:49, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

"Jewish folkish monopoly"
What is "Jewish folkish monopoly on World War II suffering"? --174.90.78.3 (talk) 17:17, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

circumstances of Death.
I looked it up on the Yad Vashem database http://www.yadvashem.org/wps/portal/IY_HON_Welcome. There are at least three entries that match the biographic data of the Edith Stein at hand.
 * http://207.232.26.141/YADVASHEM/09032124_294_3632/69.jpg
 * http://207.232.26.141/YADVASHEM/18031752_266_4824/6.jpg
 * http://207.232.26.141/YADVASHEM/11031955_657_3913/223.jpg

They all agree on the place and date of death, but non mentions "gas chamber". So either the "gas chamber" claim should be removed. Or at least it should be said that there is no proof for this. --41.151.107.188 (talk) 10:16, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
 * She did not receive a number upon arrival at Auschwitz. Historians have since long time come to the conclusion that people who did not receive a number upon arrival where going directly from the train to the gas chamber where they were killed the day of their arrival.  There is no reason to remove the "gas chamber" claim as it fits with the realty.  --Lebob (talk) 13:22, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Introduction and translation of St. Thomas Aquinas
The sentence "Stein was known for translating Saint Thomas Aquinas book, Quaestiones Disputatae de Veritata into the German language" has been repeatedly inserted in the introduction of the article, although this fact has already been mentioned in the article below under "life" where it belongs to. First of all, mentioning this just after "She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1998" sounds a little bit odd. Furthermore, in my opinion this means to put a singular fact out of her work. Why just the translation of St. Thomas? There are a lot of things Stein was known for also, e.g. her own writings, for example Scientia crucis. This has nothing to do with some sort of "ivory tower" but with not putting a singular aspect above many others-.-Turris Davidica (talk) 14:54, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

Teresa or Teresia?
This article uses the highly non-standard form "Teresia Benedicta" instead of the normal English-language form "Teresa Benedicta". From the article history, this appears to be down to a single editor, Turris Davidica, citing German-language sources for this version of the name, and even stating, in an edit summary, that "the church refers to her as Teresia Benedicta vom Kreuz". Well, yes, it does indeed – in German. In English, she is referred to as "Teresa". Every English-language reference and external link in the article, without exception, calls her "Teresa" (or, in one instance, "Theresa"), without the intrusive "i", unless referring to her name in other languages (e.g. "Teresia Benedicta a Cruce"). As to how "the church refers to her", see the English-language Vatican website and the website of the Catholic Church in England & Wales. Vilĉjo (talk)
 * Indeed I referred to both Latin and German sources. As you can see here, she signed the holy card at the day of her investiture with Teresia Benedicta (a cruce) . Maybe we should mention her religious name in the introduction as well and change the English form to Teresa if Teresia looks intrusive.--Turris Davidica (talk) 18:01, 3 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Turris' comment misses the point of using the standard English form of a name in this version of Wikipedia. How Stein signed her name is not relevant, the same way as the use of Ignazio used by Ignatius of Loyola for himself is not rendered in that native form here. Daniel the Monk (talk) 19:17, 3 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Daniel, iMHO you are missing the point that Teresia Benedicta a cruce was the religious name she actually took – of course this info is relevant.--Turris Davidica (talk) 14:34, 4 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Turris, I'm entirely in favour of your suggestion of mentioning her name in religion, in its original language form, in the lead, and then using the form Teresa elsewhere. Which I see has now been done. A sensible compromise, I think. Vilĉjo (talk) 17:22, 4 August 2013 (UTC) (Apologies for not signing my earlier comment – I have now done so.)
 * I have no problem with giving the native form of her religious name, as Vilĉjo says. As it differs from the standard English version of the name, I simply object to using it as the main form for an entry. Turris, you are missing the point that her religious name is being given. It's just being rendered in another language, the one we are using here. Daniel the Monk (talk) 22:42, 4 August 2013 (UTC)
 * My point was just one way of saying that both the German "Teresia Benedicta vom Kreuz" and the English "Teresa Benedicta of the Cross" are translations since she actually chose "Teresia Benedicta a cruce" as it has been common either for all Carmelite convents at that time or at least for some of them. I'm glad the proposal pleases.--Turris Davidica (talk) 11:42, 5 August 2013 (UTC)

Edith Stein's national identity and other controversies
Hi!: from the written work by Edith Stein, it's clear that she was convinced of being a Prussian, region now under the control of the Polish government, but actual identity of this homeland ('Heimat' in German), may be hard to fix. Alfred Jarry started his comedy: 'Ubu roi', with: 'L'histoire se deroule en Pologne, c'est a dire, nulle part' -Action takes place in Poland, meaning: nowhere- this is because lacking any geographical accident that defines 'the Polish land', its identity is linked to the people ruling in the region in each time. The science of 'Geopolitics' may have two postulates as summary: 'The one controlling the island of Europe will dominate Europe', and: 'The one dominating Europe will dominate the world'. The 'Island of Europe' is Poland.

Regading the ways to consider the death of Edith Stein as a consequence of her Roman Catholic, her Christian Faith, I'd say that her merit was 'Solidarity', as she and her sister Rose went out of another European nation convent where both requested shelter from nazis, Rose, sister of Edith, had no chance to stay there, perhaps because Rose was not a nun, and both went in the end to Echt, in the Netherlands, just 34 km away from the German border, the Netherlands were occupied by the Wehrmacht in 1940, it was escaping out of the frying pan to fall into the fire. The reason why Edit Stein died was most probably her solidarity with her sister, this is where her martyrdom may lie, and also as this individual arrest of Israelites was in revenge to a local Dutch Bishop having made declarations against the nazis, but both were not arrested only as Catholics, but as having an Israelite past. If Edith had not decided to stay close to her sister, she would have been able to find shelter in a Swiss convent, preserving her life, Edit Stein may be considered a martyr of solidarity above everything. Her writings of the first epoch are quite paganistic in content and images. Salut †--Jgrosay (talk) 15:40, 21 September 2014 (UTC)
 * This is not quite true. As we know from the history of the Carmelite order and other sources that the sisters of Le Pâquier in Switzerland spent too much time in obtaining the necessary papers and thinking about how to accomodate the sisters Stein. They simply didn't estimate the degree of danger approximately.--Turris Davidica (talk) 18:52, 21 September 2014 (UTC)

Two info boxes?
Maybe I'm missing something, but why does this article have two info boxes? I haven't seen any guidelines that suggest that's a possibility before, though I'm not exactly WikiGod of all knowledge :) Luthien22 (talk) 04:04, 15 January 2015 (UTC)

Stein's nursing service in 1915
I've added a sentence in the Academic section to document Stein's service for most of 1915 as a wartime Red Cross nurse, which according to Alasdair MacIntyre informed her dissertation's treatment of the topic of empathy. Since professional nursing research is beginning to recognize Stein's contribution to their profession, e.g., Määttä, S. M. (2006). "Closeness and distance in the nurse-patient relation. The relevance of Edith Stein's concept of empathy." Nursing Philosophy 7(1): 3-10, it is important to document Stein's nursing service, which was heretofore absent from the Article.Ajschorschiii (talk) 02:57, 20 October 2015 (UTC) I've also added Stein to nursing categories for German, military, and researchers.Ajschorschiii (talk) 03:20, 20 October 2015 (UTC)

Article lead section - reduce number of paragraphs
Greetings, Asking for help to update lead section (per WP:MOS max of 4). Currently very well written & difficult to reduce as each paragraph stands on it's own merits. Regards, JoeHebda   (talk)  14:26, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 1 one external link on Edith Stein. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20121129060507/http://www.vatican.va:80/holy_father/john_paul_ii/homilies/1998/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_11101998_stein_en.html to http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/homilies/1998/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_11101998_stein_en.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 09:36, 20 December 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Edith Stein. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070222122053/http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintt05.htm to http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintt05.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070807015704/http://www.karmel.at/ics/edith/stein.html to http://www.karmel.at/ics/edith/stein.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 12:06, 17 September 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Edith Stein. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110525130544/http://www.adl.org/opinion/edith_stein.asp to http://www.adl.org/opinion/edith_stein.asp

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 05:16, 3 December 2017 (UTC)

Teresa/Teresia
"Teresia" is the Latin (Italian?) spelling of "Teresa". Therefore, where we use her Latin name, it can be spelled "Teresia", (22,000 Google results) but in English it is Teresa Benedict(a) of the Cross. (259,000 Google results).
 *
 *
 * Elizium23 (talk) 10:10, 16 October 2020 (UTC)
 * However, the redirection to the article's page is named Teresia Benedicta of the Cross. This redirection has been here since 2007. The German form Teresia Benedicta vom Kreuz also uses "Teresia", so I wonder why this should change in English to Teresa.--Medusahead (talk) 10:26, 20 October 2020 (UTC)
 * , because the preponderance of WP:RS in English do. That's our gold standard. It doesn't matter what redirects say; those are generously sprinkled around the Wiki to help people who are searching for a topic. Misspellings are frequently given redirects since they are likely search terms. The "Teresia" is just an uncommon spelling on the English wiki, so it makes sense to give a redirect for it. I will be reverting to "Teresa" given there are no rational objections here. Elizium23 (talk) 21:02, 22 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I didn't intend to be pervicacious in any way. If you want me to reset the referring Teresias of the English version, I'll do it.--Medusahead (talk) 07:23, 23 October 2020 (UTC)

title: Talk:Edith Stein


text:
User:1 AAA Texas-'Texian' Rose, Ya'll

????? Got to figure this thing out! Sorry folks...gimmie some time to use this! Regards, Rose (Texas-'Texian')

title: User:1 AAA Texas-'Texian' Rose, Ya'll


text:
David Kelly (weapons expert)

David Christopher Kelly (14 May 1944 – 17 July 2003) was a Welsh scientist and authority on biological warfare (BW). A former head of the Defence Microbiology Division working at Porton Down, Kelly was part of a joint US-UK team that inspected civilian biotechnology facilities in Russia in the early 1990s and concluded they were running a covert and illegal BW programme. He was appointed to the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) in 1991 as one of its chief weapons inspectors in Iraq and led ten of the organisation's missions between May 1991 and December 1998. He also worked with UNSCOM's successor, the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and led several of their missions into Iraq. During his time with UNMOVIC he was key in uncovering the anthrax production programme at the Salman Pak facility, and a BW programme run at Al Hakum.

A year after the publication of the 2002 dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction—which stated that some of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons were deployable within 45 minutes—Kelly had an off-the-record conversation with Andrew Gilligan, a BBC journalist, about the claim. When Gilligan reported this on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he stated that the "45 minutes" claim was included at the insistence of Alastair Campbell, the Downing Street Director of Communications; Kelly denied that he said Campbell had forced in the reference. The government complained to the BBC about the claim, but they refused to recant on it; political tumult between Downing Street and the BBC developed. Kelly informed his line managers in the Ministry of Defence that he might have been the source, but did not think he was the only one, as Gilligan had reported points he had not mentioned. Kelly's name became known to the media, and he was called to appear on 15 July before the parliamentary Intelligence and Security and Foreign Affairs select committees. Two days later Kelly was found dead near his home, having killed himself.

Following Kelly's suicide Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, set up a government inquiry under Lord Hutton, a former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland. The inquiry concluded that Kelly had killed himself. Hutton also stated that no other parties were involved in Kelly's death. There was continued debate over the manner of Kelly's death, and the case was reviewed between 2010 and 2011 by Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General; he concluded that there was "overwhelmingly strong" evidence that Kelly had killed himself. The post-mortem and toxicology reports were released in 2010; both documents supported the conclusion of the Hutton Inquiry. The manner of Kelly's death has been the subject of several documentaries and has been fictionalised on television, on stage and in print. He was appointed as Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1994 and might well have been under consideration for a knighthood in May 2003, according to Hutton. His work in Iraq earned him a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Early life, education and first jobs: 1944–1984
David Christopher Kelly was born in Llwynypia, Glamorgan, South Wales, on 14 May 1944. His parents were Thomas John Kelly and Margaret,  Williams; Thomas was a schoolteacher who was serving in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve as a signals officer during the Second World War. Thomas and Margaret divorced in 1951; she took their young son and moved in with her parents in Pontypridd. From the age of eleven he attended the local grammar school. He was a keen sportsman and musician at school, and represented Wales in the youth cross-country running team; he played double bass in the National Youth Orchestra of Wales and played the saxophone to a high standard.

In 1963 Kelly was admitted to the University of Leeds to study chemistry, botany and biophysics. His mother died two years later from an overdose of prescription barbiturates. Although the coroner's inquest gave an open verdict, Kelly believed she had killed herself. As a result of the death, Kelly suffered from insomnia and was prescribed sleeping pills; he was also given an extra year to complete his degree. He graduated in 1967 with a BSc in bacteriology; he then obtained an MSc in virology from the University of Birmingham. Between his first and second degrees, on 15 July 1967, he married Janice,  Vawdrey, who was studying at Bingley Teacher Training College.

Kelly joined the Insect Pathology Unit at the University of Oxford in 1968, while a student of Linacre College. In 1971 he received his doctorate in microbiology; his thesis was "The Replication of Some Iridescent Viruses in Cell Cultures". In the early 1970s he undertook postdoctoral research at the University of Warwick, before moving back to Oxford in the mid-1970s to work at the Institute of Virology and Environmental Microbiology. There he carried out virology research into pests such as Spodoptera and Aedes. He rose to the position of Chief Scientific Officer; much of his work was in the field of insect viruses.

Porton Down, Russia and Iraq: 1984–2003
In 1984 Kelly joined the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as the head of the Defence Microbiology Division working at Porton Down, Wiltshire. The department had only a small number of microbiologists when he arrived, and most of their work involved the decontamination of Gruinard Island, which had been used during the Second World War for experiments with weaponised anthrax. He increased the scope of his department, obtaining additional funding to undertake research into biodefence. Because of the work undertaken by Kelly and his team, the UK were able to deploy a biodefence capability during the 1990–1991 Gulf War.

Russia: 1991–1994
In 1989 Vladimir Pasechnik, the senior Soviet biologist and bioweapons developer, defected to the UK and provided intelligence about the clandestine biological warfare (BW) programme, Biopreparat. The programme was in contravention of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention which banned the production of chemical and biological weapons. Pasechnik was debriefed by the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS), who requested technical assistance to process the information on chemical and biological matters; Kelly was seconded to the DIS to assist with his colleagues Brian Jones and Christopher Davis. They debriefed Pasechnik over a period of three years.

Kelly undertook several visits to Russia between 1991 and 1994 as the co-lead of a team from the UK and US which inspected civilian biotechnology facilities in Russia. One of the restrictions placed on the inspectors was that visits could only be to non-military installations, so, for the first visit in January 1991, the team visited the Institute of Engineering Immunology, in Lyubuchany; the State Research Centre for Applied Microbiology in Obolensk; the Vector State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology in Koltsovo; and the Institute of Ultrapure Preparations, in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). The Russians obstructed the team and tried to stop inspection of key areas of the facilities; they also lied about the use to which parts of the installations were put. On one visit to the Vector facility, Kelly had a conversation with a laboratory assistant—one who was too low grade to have been fully briefed by the KGB. Kelly asked the assistant about the work he was doing, and was surprised when the man said he was involved in testing smallpox. Kelly questioned Lev Sandakchiev, the head of Vector, about the use of smallpox, but received no answers. Kelly described the questioning sessions as "a very tense moment".

In a 2002 review of the verification process, Kelly wrote:

"The visits did not go without incident. At Obolensk, access to parts of the main research facility—notably the dynamic aerosol test chambers and the plague research laboratories—was denied on the spurious grounds of quarantine requirements. Skirmishes occurred over access to an explosive aerosol chamber because the officials knew that closer examination would reveal damning evidence of offensive BW activities. At Koltsova access was again difficult and problematic. The most serious incident was when senior officials contradicted an admission by technical staff that research on smallpox was being conducted there. The officials were unable to properly account for the presence of smallpox and for the research being undertaken in a dynamic aerosol test chamber on orthopoxvirus, which was capable of explosive dispersal. At the Institute of Ultrapure Preparations in Leningrad (Pasechnik's former workplace), dynamic and explosive test chambers were passed off as being for agricultural projects, contained milling machines were described as being for the grinding of salt, and studies on plague, especially production of the agent, were misrepresented. Candid and credible accounts of many of the activities at these facilities were not provided."

Two official reports of the visit concluded that Soviets were running a covert and illegal BW programme. Kelly also took part in reciprocal visits to the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, and visits to Porton Down by Russian and American inspectors. Despite their findings, Kelly concluded that the tripartite inspection programme had failed. It was, he said, "too ambitious; its disarmament objective deflected by issues of reciprocity and access to sites outside the territories of the three parties". He went on to add that "Russia's refusal to provide a complete account of its past and current BW activity and the inability of the American–British teams to gain access to Soviet/Russian military industrial facilities were significant contributory factors".

Appointment to UNSCOM
Following the end of the Gulf War, United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 imposed the articles of Iraq's surrender. The document stated "that Iraq shall unconditionally accept the destruction, removal, or rendering harmless, under international supervision, of ... All chemical and biological weapons". This was to be made possible by "The forming of a special commission which shall carry out immediate on-site inspection of Iraq's biological, chemical and missile capabilities, based on Iraq's declarations and the designation of any additional locations by the special commission itself". The group set up was the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), and Kelly was appointed to it in 1991 as one of its chief weapons inspectors in Iraq. The Iraqis had provided Rolf Ekéus, the director of UNSCOM, with a list of sites connected with the research and production of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the country, about half of which had been bombed during Operation Desert Storm. These sites provided the starting point for the investigations. In August 1991 Kelly led the first group of UN BW investigators into the country. When asked where the inspection teams would visit, he told reporters "We will go to sites which we deem to have characteristics associated with biological activity, but at the moment ... I have an open mind." The first UNSCOM missions finished with no evidence found of an Iraqi biological or chemical programme, although they did establish that some sites suspected by US intelligence services of involvement in biological or chemical warfare research were legitimate. These included a bakery, a pharmaceutical research business in Samarra, a dairy and a slaughterhouse.

UNSCOM undertook 261 inspection missions to Iraq between May 1991 and December 1998, 74 of which were for biological weapons. Kelly led ten of the missions involved in BW inspections. In 1998 and 1999 Iraq refused to deal with UNSCOM or the inspectors; the country's President, Saddam Hussein, singled out Kelly by name for expulsion from the country. During an inspection mission to Iraq in 1998, Kelly worked alongside an American translator and US Air Force officer, Mai Pederson, who introduced him to the Baháʼí Faith. Kelly remained a member of the faith for the rest of his life, attending spiritual meetings near his home of Southmoor, Oxfordshire. He was, for a time, the treasurer of his local branch, based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. His time in Iraq left him with a deep affection for the country, its people and culture, although he abhorred Saddam's government.

British dossier on Iraqi WMD
In 2000 UNSCOM was replaced by the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), whose mission and aims were similar to that of UNSCOM: to remove Iraqi WMDs and "to operate a system of ongoing monitoring and verification to check Iraq's compliance with its obligations not to reacquire the same weapons prohibited to it by the Security Council".

Kelly returned to work as a government advisor with the MoD on biological warfare, but also worked with UNMOVIC and continued to visit Iraq. He was involved in at least 36 missions to Iraq as part of UNSCOM and UNMOVIC, and, despite interference and obstruction tactics by the Iraqis, was instrumental in making the breakthrough to discover Iraq's BW facilities: the anthrax production programme at the Salman Pak facility and a BW programme run at Al Hakum.

In his 2002 State of the Union address, George W. Bush, the President of the United States, discussed the use of WMD by the Iraqi regime. Later that year he reaffirmed that "the stated policy of the United States is regime change". As part of the British government's arguments for war on Saddam, Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, instructed the publication of a dossier on Iraqi WMD on 24 September 2002. The dossier, which was "based, in large part, on the work of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC)", included the statement that the Iraqi government had:
 * continued to produce chemical and biological agents;
 * military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, including against its own Shia population. Some of these weapons are deployable within 45 minutes of an order to use them;
 * command and control arrangements in place to use chemical and biological weapons. Authority ultimately resides with Saddam Hussein.

Before its publication, Kelly had been shown a draft copy of the dossier and took part in a meeting at the DIS to review it. Four pages of comments were made regarding the information in the report, of which Kelly contributed twelve individual statements. The observations from the DIS were passed up to the Joint Intelligence Organisation; none of the observations referred to the 45-minute claim.

On 8 November 2002 the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1441, "a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations under relevant resolutions of the Council; and accordingly decides to set up an enhanced inspection regime with the aim of bringing to full and verified completion the disarmament process". The resolution stated that the Iraqi government needed to provide full details of its WMD programme within 30 days. As a result of the increasing pressure on the Iraqi government, UNSCOM inspectors were readmitted to the country and were provided information on the Iraqi WMD programme. According to Kelly, despite the steps taken, Saddam "refuse[d] to acknowledge the extent of his chemical and biological weapons and associated military and industrial support organisations", and there was still a concern about "8,500 litres of anthrax VX, [sic] 2,160 kilograms of bacterial growth media, 360 tonnes of bulk chemical warfare agent, 6,500 chemical bombs and 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical and biological warfare agents [which] remained unaccounted for from activities up to 1991".

Interaction with journalists
In February 2003 Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, addressed the United Nations Security Council to discuss Iraq's WMD. He included information on mobile weapons laboratories, which he described as "trucks and train cars ... easily moved and ... designed to evade detection by inspectors. In a matter of months, they can produce a quantity of biological poison equal to the entire amount that Iraq claimed to have produced in the years prior to the Gulf War." Following his examination of the vehicles in question, Kelly spoke, off the record, to journalists from The Observer. In their article in the newspaper on 15 June 2003 they described him as "a British scientist and biological weapons expert", and quoted him as saying:

"They are not mobile germ warfare laboratories. You could not use them for making biological weapons. They do not even look like them. They are exactly what the Iraqis said they were—facilities for the production of hydrogen gas to fill balloons."

One of the journalists who wrote the story, Peter Beaumont, confirmed to the Hutton Inquiry that Kelly was the source of this quote. Kelly was often approached by the press and would either clear the discussion with the press office of the FCO, or use his judgement before doing so; it was within his remit to liaise with the media. Shortly before the 2003 invasion of Iraq (20 March – 1 May 2003) Kelly anonymously wrote an article on the threat from Saddam which was never published. He outlined his thoughts on the build-up to war:

"Iraq has spent the past 30 years building up an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Although the current threat presented by Iraq militarily is modest, both in terms of conventional and unconventional weapons, it has never given up its intent to develop and stockpile such weapons for both military and terrorist use."

He continued that "The long-term threat, however, remains Iraq's development to military maturity of weapons of mass destruction—something that only regime change will avert." On 20 March 2003 British and American troops entered Iraq to bring about the regime change. Most of the country was occupied and Saddam was overthrown within four weeks; Bush stated that war was over on 1 May 2003. On 7 May 2003 Kelly was telephoned by Susan Watts, the science editor of the BBC's Newsnight programme; the call lasted 15 to 20 minutes. They discussed various matters relating to Iraq including, towards the end of the conversation, the matter of the 45-minute claim. Watts's handwritten shorthand notes showed Kelly stated the claim was "a mistake to put in. Alastair Campbell seeing something in there, single source but not corroborated, sounded good." The pair also had a subsequent call on 12 May. Kelly flew to Kuwait on 19 May as part of a military team. He hoped to meet members of the Iraq Survey Group to see how the organisation worked. When he arrived in Kuwait he found that no visa had been arranged for him, so he returned home.

Contact with Andrew Gilligan
On 22 May 2003 Kelly met Andrew Gilligan, the Defence and Diplomatic Correspondent for BBC Radio 4's Today programme, at the Charing Cross Hotel, London. It was the third time the pair had met. The meeting, initiated by Gilligan, was for the journalist to ask why Kelly thought WMDs had not been discovered in Iraq by the British and American troops. According to Gilligan, after 30 minutes the conversation focussed on the September Dossier and how key areas of the document were altered to give greater impact to the public. Gilligan took notes on an electronic organiser; he said these read as

Transformed week before publication to make it sexier. The classic was the 45 minutes. Most things in dossier were double source but that was single source. One source said it took 4 [that should be 45] minutes to set up a missile assembly, that was misinterpreted. Most people in intelligence weren't happy with it because it didn't reflect the considered view they were putting forward. Campbell: real information but unreliable, included against our wishes. Not in original draft - dull, he asked if anything else could go in.

Soon after the meeting, Gilligan claimed, he wrote a full script of the interview, based on his memory and notes. Between the completion of the document and the start of the Hutton Inquiry in August, Gilligan says he lost that script. Kelly was in New York on 29 May 2003, attending the final commissioners' meeting of UNMOVIC under the leadership of Hans Blix. At 6.07 that morning, on the Today programme, Gilligan explained to the programme's host, John Humphrys, what he would be discussing later in the programme:

"what we've been told by one of the senior officials in charge of drawing up that dossier was that, actually the government probably erm, knew that that forty five minute figure was wrong, even before it decided to put it in. What this person says, is that a week before the publication date of the dossier, it was actually rather erm, a bland production. It didn't, the, the draft prepared for Mr Blair by the Intelligence Agencies actually didn't say very much more than was public knowledge already and erm, Downing Street, our source says, ordered a week before publication, ordered it to be sexed up, to be made more exciting and ordered more facts to be er, to be discovered."

Gilligan had not been able to get confirmation from any other sources about the veracity of the claim. The producer of Today, Kevin Marsh, writes that Gilligan went off his pre-prepared script. With news based on an anonymous single source, stories "have to be reported word perfectly" to be precise about the meaning; according to Marsh, "Gilligan had lost control of that precision". Downing Street had not been forewarned of the story, or been contacted to ask for a statement. At 7:32 am the government press office issued a statement to refute the story: "Not one word of the dossier was not entirely the work of the intelligence agencies". Gilligan then broadcast a report for the BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast programme in which he repeated the claim that the government had inserted the 45-minute claim into the dossier. Kelly did not recognise himself from Gilligan's description of a "senior official in charge of drawing up the document"; Kelly had taken no part in drafting the document and had only been asked for comments on the contents.

The following day Watts telephoned Kelly at home to discuss the quotes on the Today programme; she recorded the call. When she asked him if he was being questioned about the identity of the source, Kelly replied "I mean they wouldn't think it was me, I don't think. Maybe they would, maybe they wouldn't. I don't know". Their conversation also included the possible involvement of Campbell in the inclusion of the 45-minute claim in the dossier:

SW OK just back momentarily on the 45 minute issue I'm feeling like I ought to just explore that a little bit more with you the um err. So would it be accurate then, as you did that earlier conversation, to say that it was Alastair Campbell himself who...

DK No I can't. All I can say is the Number Ten press office. I've never met Alastair Campbell so I can't ... But I think Alastair Campbell is synonymous with that press office because he's responsible for it.

Despite the denial from the government, on 1 June—the day after Kelly and Watts had spoken on the telephone—Gilligan wrote an article for The Mail on Sunday in which he specifically named Campbell; it was titled: "I asked my intelligence source why Blair misled us all over Saddam's weapons. His reply? One word ... CAMPBELL". According to the journalist Miles Goslett, the report on the Today programme "caused little more than a ripple" of interest; the newspaper article "was of major international significance. It was career-threatening for all concerned if substantiated".

As political tumult between Downing Street and the BBC developed, Kelly alerted his line manager at the MoD, Bryan Wells, that he had met Gilligan and discussed, among other points, the 45-minute claim. In a detailed letter of 30 June, Kelly stated that any mention of Campbell had been raised by Gilligan, not himself, and that this was an aside. Kelly stated that "I did not even consider that I was the 'source' of Gilligan's information"; he only became aware of the possibility after Gilligan had appeared at the Foreign Affairs Select Committee on 19 June. Kelly said of Gilligan's evidence that "The description of that meeting in small part matches my interaction with him especially my personal evaluation of Iraq's capability but the overall character is quite different". In closing, he reiterated that "With hindsight I of course deeply regret talking to Andrew Gilligan even though I am convinced that I am not his primary source of information."

Kelly was interviewed twice by his employers—on 3 and 7 July; they concluded that he may have been Gilligan's source, but that Gilligan may have exaggerated what Kelly said. A decision was taken that no official action was to be taken against Kelly. He was also advised that, with journalists pressing for further information, it was possible his name would emerge in press reports. Reports in The Times by the journalist Tom Baldwin on 5 and 8 July gave significant hints on the identity of Gilligan's source. At a meeting chaired by Blair on 8 July it was agreed that a statement should be released that stated a member of the MoD had come forward to say that he was the source. It was also agreed that Kelly's name would not be released to journalists, but if someone guessed who it was, they were allowed to confirm it. Kevin Tebbit, the permanent secretary at the MoD—Kelly's ultimate superior at the department—arrived at the end of the meeting and was unable to provide any input. At 5:54 pm on 8 July the government statement was released. Without naming Kelly, it said a member of the MoD had come forward to admit that he had met Gilligan at an unauthorised meeting a week before Gilligan's broadcast. The statement said that this MoD employee was not in a position to comment on Campbell's role in the 45 minute issue as he had not helped draw up the intelligence report and had not seen it. At 5:50 pm the following day a journalist from The Financial Times guessed Kelly's name correctly; a journalist from The Times did so soon afterwards after nineteen failed guesses.

On the evening of 8 July Nick Rufford, a journalist with The Sunday Times who had known Kelly for five years, visited him at home in Southmoor. Rufford told him that his name would be published in the papers the following day. He advised Kelly to leave his home that night to avoid the media, and said the newspaper would put Kelly and his wife up at a hotel. Soon after Rufford left he contacted the MoD and asked if Kelly could write a piece for the paper putting forward his version of events; the MoD press office said this was unlikely. Soon afterwards the MoD phoned Kelly and advised him to find somewhere else to stay the night. According to Mrs Kelly, the couple left the house within 15 minutes and drove to Cornwall, breaking the journey overnight in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, where they arrived by 9:45 pm. Although the trip to Cornwall was described by Mrs Kelly at the Hutton Inquiry, Baker considers that there are "problems with the version of events we are asked to accept"; Goslett writes that Kelly played cribbage with a pub team in Kingston Bagpuize that night and was there until at least 10:30 pm. None of those on Kelly's cribbage team were asked to give evidence to the Hutton Inquiry.

While in Cornwall, on the morning of 11 July, Kelly had a telephone call from Bryan Wells to tell him that he would have to appear in front of the Intelligence and Security and Foreign Affairs select committees. He was told that the latter of these would be televised, something that upset him greatly, according to his wife. That afternoon, still unhappy with the news from the earlier phone call, he spoke to Wells again nine times. They agreed to meet on Monday 14 July to prepare for the interviews. Kelly returned from Cornwall on 13 July and stayed in Oxford at his daughter Rachel's house.

Appearance before House of Commons committees
Kelly's appearance before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee was against the advice of Tebbit, the most senior civil servant at the MoD. He had been overruled by Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Defence. Kelly appeared in front of the committee on 15 July in a session that lasted over an hour. He spoke so softly the fans in the room were turned off so the committee members could hear him reply; according to Baker, "Every word [from Kelly] was weighed carefully and some painful circumlocutions resulted". Kelly told the committee that he had met Gilligan but, as the journalist Tom Mangold, in Kelly's biography in the Dictionary of National Biography writes, "denied that he had said the things Gilligan reported his source as having said".

Kelly was questioned by the Liberal Democrat MP David Chidgey about conversations with Susan Watts. It was the first time her name had been connected with Kelly in public, and it was later established that Gilligan had not only sent Chidgey excerpts from a recorded conversation, but also gave Chidgey questions to ask Kelly. The quote included Kelly's opinion on the 45 minute claim. The quote read out by Chidgey included: "The 45 minutes was a statement that was made and it got out of all proportion. They were desperate for information. They were pushing hard for information that could be released. That was one that popped up and it was seized on and it is unfortunate that it was." Chidgey asked Kelly if the quotes came from the meeting he had with Watts in November 2002—the only time the pair had met face-to-face; Kelly replied that "I cannot believe that on that occasion I made that statement". According to Goslett, this was a truthful statement, as Kelly had not made the statement in November 2002, but on 30 May that year. Mangold notes that Kelly appeared to be under stress during the interview, and that some of the questioning was overtly hostile. One Labour MP, Andrew MacKinlay, questioned Kelly towards the end of the session:

Andrew MacKinlay: I reckon you are chaff; you have been thrown up to divert our probing. Have you ever felt like a fall-guy? You have been set up, have you not?

Dr Kelly: That is not a question I can answer.

Andrew MacKinlay: But you feel that?

Dr Kelly: No, not at all. I accept the process that is going on.

After the hearing Kelly described MacKinlay to his daughter as an "utter bastard".

On the following day, 16 July 2003, Kelly gave evidence to the Intelligence and Security Committee. He appeared more relaxed than he had in front of the Foreign Affairs Committee, according to Baker. When asked, Kelly described the September dossier as "an accurate document, I think it is a fair reflection of the intelligence that was available and it's presented in a very sober and factual way."

Death: 17 July 2003
[[File:Location of David Kelly's home and where his body was found.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|alt=map showing the local area where Kelly lived; his home and the position of his body are marked.|Key points in the life of David Kelly:

– Southmoor, where he lived

– Harrowdown Hill, where his body was found.

Both locations are in Oxfordshire.]]

On the morning of 17 July Kelly worked from his home in Southmoor, answering written parliamentary questions from two MPs—MacKinlay on the identity of the journalists Kelly had spoken to, and the Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin on Kelly's discussions with Gilligan and whether he would be disciplined for it; Kelly had to provide the information to the MoD to forward on. He had a telephone call with Wing Commander John Clark, a friend and colleague, during which they discussed the general situation Kelly was in, as well as a trip to Iraq on which Kelly was due to go in the following week. Clark reported that Kelly seemed to be "very tired, but in good spirits". He had received several emails from well-wishers, including from The New York Times journalist Judith Miller, to which he replied "I will wait until the end of the week before judging—many dark actors playing games. Thanks for your support."

During the course of the day Kelly received a phone call that changed his mood. Mangold states that "[the] most likely explanation is that he learned from a well-meaning friend at the Ministry of Defence that the BBC had tape-recorded evidence which, when published, would show that he had indeed said the things to Susan Watts that he had formally denied saying". Mrs Kelly was ill that day and spent some time lying down in the couple's bedroom, but she got up at 3:00 pm to find Kelly speaking on the phone, before she returned to her bedroom to sleep. Goslett thinks this phone call is likely to have been with Clark, in a discussion about one of the answers to the parliamentary questions. Kelly left for a walk between 3:00 and 3:20 pm and was last seen by Ruth Absalom, a neighbour, with whom he stopped to have a chat. She was the last person known to have seen him alive. Clark tried to contact Kelly at home—where Mrs Kelly told him that her husband had gone for a walk—and then on Kelly's mobile, which was switched off; Clark stated he was surprised it was off as Kelly was normally easily contactable.

As far as it is known, Kelly walked a mile (1.6 km) from his house to Harrowdown Hill. It appears he ingested up to 29 tablets of co-proxamol, an analgesic drug; he also cut his left wrist with a pruning knife he had owned since his youth, severing his ulnar artery. Forensic analysis established that neither the knife nor the blister packs showed Kelly's fingerprints on their surfaces.

Rachel Kelly spoke to her mother in the late afternoon, then drove to her parents' house at around 6:00 pm. As her father had not returned, Rachel walked a route along a footpath her father was known to use regularly to try and find him; she returned to the house at around 6:30 pm, then drove round to see if she could find anything. Sian, the Kellys' eldest daughter, also came to the house that night, and at 11:40 pm they phoned the police. Three officers from the local station in Abingdon arrived within 15 minutes; they searched the house and garden straight away. By 1:00 am a search helicopter from RAF Benson, fitted with thermal imaging equipment, had been requested; teams of search dogs were also provided and a 26-metre (85 ft) communications mast was erected, as the Kellys' home was in a mobile communications black spot.

The police used volunteer search teams, and it was one of these that found Kelly's body on Harrowdown Hill at about 9:20 am on 18 July. The two-person team differed in their description of the position of the body: one stated Kelly was "at the base of the tree with almost his head and his shoulders just slumped back against the tree"; the other stated Kelly was "sitting with his back up against a tree". The police and paramedics differed from both the searchers. DC Coe, one of the first policemen at the scene, stated the body "was laying on its back—the body was laying on its back by a large tree, the head towards the trunk of the tree"; the pathologist called to the scene, Nicholas Hunt, recalled that: "his head was quite close to branches and so forth, but not actually over the tree."

Immediate aftermath
Blair was on an aeroplane from Washington to Tokyo when the body was found. He was contacted while en route and informed of the news, although Kelly had not been formally identified at that stage. He decided to order a judicial inquiry to examine the circumstances, which was to be headed by Lord Hutton, a former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland. His terms of reference were "urgently to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr Kelly".

Hunt undertook the post-mortem examination on 19 July in the presence of eight police officers and two members of the coroner's office. Hunt concluded that the cause of death was a haemorrhage caused by a self-inflicted injury from "incised wounds to the left wrist", with the contributory factors of "co-proxamol ingestion and coronary artery atherosclerosis". On 20 July 2003, the day after the post-mortem, the BBC confirmed that Kelly was their only source. Nicholas Gardner, the coroner, opened and adjourned his inquest on 21 July, noting that the pathologist was still awaiting the toxicology report. With the establishment of the inquiry under Hutton, the Lord Chancellor's Department contacted Nicholas Gardner, the coroner, to advise him that under section 17A of the Coroners Act 1988, the coroner's inquest should only be resumed if there were exceptional circumstances to do so.

On 6 August 2003, five days after the preliminary session of the Hutton Inquiry, Kelly was buried at St Mary's Church, Longworth.

Hutton Inquiry
From 11 August to 4 September 2003 witnesses to the inquiry were called in the order of the chronology of events. The second stage of the inquiry took place between 15 and 25 September 2003; Hutton explained that he "would ask persons, who had already given evidence and whose conduct might possibly be the subject of criticism in my report, to come back to be examined further". There was one additional day used, 13 October 2003, to hear from one witness who had been ill on their scheduled day. As well as members of the Kelly family, evidence was taken from BBC employees (including Gilligan, Watts and Richard Sambrook, the BBC's Director of News) members of the government and its advisors (including Blair, Campbell, Hoon and McKinley) and civil servants, including John Scarlett, chairman of the JIC and Richard Dearlove, head of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).

One of the witnesses who gave evidence to Hutton was David Broucher, the UK's permanent representative to the Conference on Disarmament. In 2002 or 2003 he had asked Kelly what would happen if Iraq were invaded; Kelly had replied "I will probably be found dead in the woods". Over the 24 days evidence was taken, the inquiry questioned 74 witnesses and received over 10,000 pages of evidence; most of the documents, along with transcripts of the questioning, were published online by the inquiry team. Hutton reported on 28 January 2004 and wrote "I am satisfied that Dr Kelly took his own life by cutting his left wrist and that his death was hastened by his taking Co-proxamol tablets. I am further satisfied that there was no involvement by a third person in Dr Kelly's death".

Hutton also concluded that the September dossier had not been "sexed up" by the government, or by Campbell, but was the work of the JIC. He cleared the government and its ministers of any wrongdoing and reserved his criticism for the BBC and Gilligan. According to George Jones, the political correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, Hutton's judgement on the BBC was "damning and shocked its journalists with its ferocity. He said the corporation had a "defective" editorial system that allowed Gilligan to make "unfounded" claims questioning the Government's integrity".

Despite the conclusion of the Hutton report that Kelly killed himself, there was continued debate over the manner of his death. Several doctors questioned the conclusion on medical grounds, although their position has been doubted by pathologists. The former leader of the Conservative Party, Michael Howard, and the former Liberal Democrat MP, Norman Baker, both thought Kelly was murdered. In 2007 Baker published The Strange Death of David Kelly in which he argued that Kelly did not die by suicide. Kelly's family expressed their displeasure at the publication; his sister-in-law said: "It is just raking over old bones. I can't speak for the whole family, but I've read it all [Baker's theories], every word, and I don't believe it."

Subsequent events
In March 2004 the Oxfordshire coroner, Nicholas Gardiner, convened a hearing to decide whether there were the "exceptional circumstances" needed to resume the inquest; he concluded that such circumstances did not exist and that an inquest was not required.

In December 2009 six doctors applied to the Oxford coroner's office to reopen the inquest, claiming that there was insufficient evidence for Hutton's conclusion of suicide. Their request was turned down on legal advice, and they were informed that evidence relating to Kelly's death was to be kept secret for 70 years. Hutton stated that he did so "solely in order to protect Dr Kelly's widow and daughters for the remainder of their lives (the daughters being in their twenties at that time) from the distress which they would suffer from further discussion of the details of Dr Kelly's death in the media".

The Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, reviewed the case between 2010 and 2011. He spoke to both Hutton and Gardner before he concluded that there was no benefit in opening a new inquest into the matter; he stated that there was "overwhelmingly strong" evidence that Kelly killed himself. Prior to Grieve's decision, the government released the post-mortem and toxicology reports that Hutton had said should be sealed for 70 years. Both documents supported the conclusion of the Hutton Inquiry. The pathologist wrote in the post-mortem:

It is my opinion that the main factor involved in bringing about the death of David Kelly is the bleeding from the incised wounds to his left wrist. Had this not occurred he may well not have died at this time. Furthermore, on the balance of probabilities, it is likely that the ingestion of an excess number of co-proxamol tablets coupled with apparently clinically silent coronary artery disease would both have played a part in bringing about death more certainly and more rapidly than would have otherwise been the case. Therefore I give as the cause of death:
 * 1a. Haemorrhage;
 * 1b. Incised wounds to the left wrist;
 * 2. Co-proxamol ingestion and coronary artery atherosclerosis.

Kelly's grave was a focal point for the campaign group "Justice for Kelly", who left placards demanding an inquest and undertook vigils at the graveside. Following complaints by his widow and a request by her to the Diocese of Oxford, Kelly's remains were exhumed in June 2017 and were reportedly cremated.

Legacy
Kelly's death and the preceding events have served as an inspiration for artistic tributes and dramatisations, including the 2006 song "Harrowdown Hill" by Thom Yorke; a 2008 painting, Death of David Kelly, by Dexter Dalwood; Jonathan Coe's 2015 novel Number 11; and a poem, "Hand-Washing Technique – Government Guidelines" (subtitled "i.m. Dr David Kelly"), by Simon Armitage. Kelly was the subject of a 2005 television drama, The Government Inspector, starring Mark Rylance, and "Justifying War: Scenes from the Hutton Inquiry" a radio play by the Tricycle Theatre. Kelly's last moments are featured in the centre monologue of the stage play Palace of the End by Judith Thompson. There have also been documentaries on British television and radio about Kelly.

In the 1996 Birthday Honours Kelly was appointed as Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG); the citation reads:

"He devised the scientific basis for the enhanced biological warfare defence programme and led strong research groups in many key areas. Following the Gulf War he led the first biological warfare inspection in Iraq and has spent most of his time since either in Iraq or at various sites in the former Soviet Union helping to shed light on past biological warfare related activities and assisting the UK/US RUS trilateral confidence building process. He has pursued this work tirelessly and with good humour despite the significant hardship, hostility and personal risk encountered during extended periods of service in both countries. ... His efforts in his specialist field have had consequences of international significance."

Lord Hutton, in the report to his inquiry, suggested that Kelly might well have been under consideration for a knighthood in May 2003. Kelly's work in Iraq earned him a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize; his biographer Norman Baker wrote of Kelly:

"It is no exaggeration to say that between 1990 and his death in 2003, Dr Kelly probably did more to make the world a more secure place than anyone on the planet. Even among the elite group of international weapons inspectors, he was regarded with some awe, as the inspectors' inspector."

Further viewing

 * Films and video
 * Dead In The Woods (2007) Investigative documentary that explores the links between Kelly's death and a global bio-weapons conspiracy. Scheduled for international theatrical release and broadcast in 2008.
 * David Kelly: The Conspiracy Files (2007) BBC Documentary exploring the death of Dr. Kelly and the conspiracy surrounding it.
 * 60 Minutes – report on former USSR's smallpox programme, and David Kelly's role in investigating both Soviet and Iraqi smallpox labs

title: David Kelly (weapons expert)