fallen tree log forest logging
I had no intention of writing anything further on the Salisbury/Skripal case, unless something of real significance came up. But I just want to comment on something very briefly in connection with it, which is, I feel, very significant.

This weekend, The Telegraph ran an an article which gave details of phone calls Boris Johnson, and his predecessor, Theresa May have had with US President, Donald Trump. Of particular interest is a call that took place in March 2018, when Mrs May spoke to Mr Trump about what had happened in Salisbury. I'm quite sure The Telegraph, having failed in its basic journalistic duty to question the often farcical details of the case at the time, has no idea of the significance of what their US Editor, Ben Riley-Smith wrote, but I hope this piece might serve to enlighten them, and anyone else who still cares about that quaint old thing called truthfulness. Here's what the article said:
"Mrs May was seeking solidarity from the White House over a chemical attack on British soil. But leaked notes from one call between Mr Trump and Mrs May reveal how hard he pushed back. 'We really need your leadership on this', Mrs May said, according to the notes. 'No, I would rather follow than lead,' Mr Trump is quoted responding.

The call was in March, though the exact date is unclear. They talked more than once that month. The president is quoted carrying on: "Angela [Merkel] is doing nothing. She is feeding the beast. I have done stuff and the EU has to do something. We are paying for their defence." Mrs May tried again.

'Three children fell ill after feeding ducks there', she is quoted saying, referring to the hospitalisation of children who had been in the park where Mr Skripal was found. 'Yes, it's horrible and disgusting', Mr Trump agreed. 'The US and the UK must stand together on this', Mrs May said, according to the notes."
So why is this significant?

The first thing to say is that it is not at all unclear when this call took place, as the Telegraph states. Theresa May and Donald Trump had three calls together in March 2018 — 4th, 13th and 28th — and given that the Salisbury incident took place on 4th March, and that the US had already expelled diplomats by 28th, it is safe to say this was on 13th March.

The second thing to say is really important, and it is this: THERE NEVER WERE ANY DEAD DUCKS OR SICK CHILDREN. This was confirmed by Tracy Daszkiewicz, the director of public health at Wiltshire council, who said in April last year:
"There were no other casualties other than those previously stated. No wildlife were impacted by the incident and no children were exposed to or became ill as a result of either incident."
In other words, if the Telegraph story is true, then the Prime Minister of Great Britain misled the President of the United States. Now, I doubt very much whether Mrs May would have knowingly done this — I cannot quite bring myself to believe that she would have dared risk crossing him — but I believe it entirely plausible that certain people from the National Security crew may have informed, or rather misinformed her, of this event that didn't happen, and she just relayed it to the President. It may even be that they showed her the video of Mr Skripal feeding ducks and handing bread to the boys, and told her that these boys had become ill. However, what she cannot have seen is any pictures of actual ill, hospitalised children, because there were none.
trump and may
Former UK Prime Minister Theresa May and President Trump
Thirdly, it was only after this call, that the police actually contacted the parents of the boys who were seen on the CCTV footage feeding ducks in The Maltings with Mr Skripal. Only then were they taken to hospital, where they showed no signs of having been contaminated with "Novichok", which is unsurprising, since when Mr Skripal handed them bread to feed ducks, he was not contaminated with "Novichok" either. Had he been, they would have fallen ill. But he wasn't, so they didn't.

A few days later, President Trump's newly appointed CIA Director, Gina Haspel, persuaded him to expel 60 diplomats, but only after showing him pictures of dead ducks and children injured in chemical attacks, though not from Salisbury, mind you, since of course there weren't any (for a more detailed account of that, see here).

So just to recap:
  1. According to the Telegraph, Mrs May told Mr Trump that children had been made ill from poisoning by a chemical weapon.
  2. Not only was this utterly false, but at that time neither the children nor their parents had even been contacted by the police.
  3. The most powerful man on the planet was therefore misled, whether wittingly or unwittingly by the British Prime Minister, and then (almost certainly wittingly) by the Director of the CIA.
Seems significant to me. But I won't be holding my breath waiting for the Telegraph or anyone else to follow it up and find out why on earth this happened. Though I think the answer is obvious.
Rob Slane is the author of The God Reality: A Critique of Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion, and A Christian & an Unbeliever Discuss: Life, The Universe & Everything. Thus has he written monthly worldview articles for the American health sharing company, Samaritan Ministries, and has regularly contributed to The Conservative Woman and the Canadian magazine, Reformed Perspective.