The long-awaited Chilcot report into the Iraq war is reportedly set to savage Tony Blair and other former government officials in an “absolutely brutal” verdict on the failings of the occupation.
The former Prime Minister “won’t be let off the hook” over claims he offered military assistance to the former American President George W Bush, a year before the invasion of Iraq, a source told the Sunday Times.
The Inquiry, which was set up by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown in June 2009 to look into the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, will release its 2.6 million word report just two weeks after the EU referendum. It is expected to “damage the reputations” of a number of high-ranking officials.
The source added that the harshest criticism will be reserved for the former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. “It will be absolutely brutal for [Mr] Straw,” they told the Sunday Times. “The build-up to war is very crucial. It will damage the reputations of a number of people, Richard Dearlove as well as Tony Blair and others. But there is a second half. The report will say that we really did make a mess of the after¬math.”
“We sent in inexperienced people. People were put in positions where they couldn’t succeed. We didn’t quite know what we were doing. After the invasion we found it very much more difficult than we had expected.
“All the things the British had been saying about how much better we were at dealing with post-conflict resolution than the Americans came very badly unstuck.”
Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, will also face criticism for failing to prevent Downing Street from putting “gloss” on intelligence surrounding the alleged weapons of mass destruction.
Mr Blair will already be familiar with the criticisms in the report due to the Maxwellisation process, which allows those under fire to respond to the allegations in the report before publication.
Last year, in an interview with CNN, the former Labour Prime Minister issued a partial apology. He said: “I can say that I apologise for the face that the intelligence I received was wrong. I also apologise for some of the mistakes in planning, and certainly, our mistake in our understanding of what would happen once you removed the regime”.
The Iraq Inquiry will be based on the testimony of more than 150 witnesses, who contributed to more than 130 sessions of oral evidence. It also incorporates the results of the examination of 150,000 Government documents examined.
But delays to the report, which started nearly seven years ago, have been criticised by families of those who died during the eight-year occupation of Iraq between 2003 and 2011. Reg Keys, who lost his 20-year-old son Lance Corporal Thomas Keys Thomas was killed in the conflict said it was “dragging out the agony of the families who want to draw a line under this.”
The office of Tony Blair refused to comment on the reports. The Independent has also contacted Mr Straw
If they're good enough to play at World Cups, why not in between?
It'll criticise them severely but nothing will come of it, except for perhaps a few fall guys in the military. There will certainly be no trips to Netherlands for court hearings.
I'll be surprised if Blair gets to the Hague. I think the report will need to be utterly damning and show that he definitely lied to parliament and spun the intelligence assessments to get his own way. Unless there is clear evidence of that, I can't see it happening.
Sandydragon wrote:I'll be surprised if Blair gets to the Hague. I think the report will need to be utterly damning and show that he definitely lied to parliament and spun the intelligence assessments to get his own way. Unless there is clear evidence of that, I can't see it happening.
I suspect it'll be a furious beating with a feather duster
Another decade or so & they might get around to investigating Britain's role in Libya as well....
If they're good enough to play at World Cups, why not in between?
Blair is a big eared kok that looks like Fred West. What a clusterfuk. Has made a mint off his lies by pushing other people's children into manufactured conflict ever since.
rowan wrote:Due out in just over a month, is this going to send Bliar, Straw & co. to the Hague? I'm taking a believe-it-when-I-see-it approach to this one...
The long-awaited Chilcot report into the Iraq war is reportedly set to savage Tony Blair and other former government officials in an “absolutely brutal” verdict on the failings of the occupation.
The former Prime Minister “won’t be let off the hook” over claims he offered military assistance to the former American President George W Bush, a year before the invasion of Iraq, a source told the Sunday Times.
The Inquiry, which was set up by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown in June 2009 to look into the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, will release its 2.6 million word report just two weeks after the EU referendum. It is expected to “damage the reputations” of a number of high-ranking officials.
The source added that the harshest criticism will be reserved for the former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. “It will be absolutely brutal for [Mr] Straw,” they told the Sunday Times. “The build-up to war is very crucial. It will damage the reputations of a number of people, Richard Dearlove as well as Tony Blair and others. But there is a second half. The report will say that we really did make a mess of the after¬math.”
“We sent in inexperienced people. People were put in positions where they couldn’t succeed. We didn’t quite know what we were doing. After the invasion we found it very much more difficult than we had expected.
“All the things the British had been saying about how much better we were at dealing with post-conflict resolution than the Americans came very badly unstuck.”
Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, will also face criticism for failing to prevent Downing Street from putting “gloss” on intelligence surrounding the alleged weapons of mass destruction.
Mr Blair will already be familiar with the criticisms in the report due to the Maxwellisation process, which allows those under fire to respond to the allegations in the report before publication.
Last year, in an interview with CNN, the former Labour Prime Minister issued a partial apology. He said: “I can say that I apologise for the face that the intelligence I received was wrong. I also apologise for some of the mistakes in planning, and certainly, our mistake in our understanding of what would happen once you removed the regime”.
The Iraq Inquiry will be based on the testimony of more than 150 witnesses, who contributed to more than 130 sessions of oral evidence. It also incorporates the results of the examination of 150,000 Government documents examined.
But delays to the report, which started nearly seven years ago, have been criticised by families of those who died during the eight-year occupation of Iraq between 2003 and 2011. Reg Keys, who lost his 20-year-old son Lance Corporal Thomas Keys Thomas was killed in the conflict said it was “dragging out the agony of the families who want to draw a line under this.”
The office of Tony Blair refused to comment on the reports. The Independent has also contacted Mr Straw
It won't address the primary issue which is that the invasion, in and of itself, was the supreme international crime of waging aggressive war.
As for 'botching the aftermath', that's just a lie to minimise their culpability. The intent was to destroy Iraq as a functioning nation. In that they succeeded admirably.
Western policy toward Iraq for decades has been genocide.
As for the maths. There are mathematic 'theories' on both sides, they are not the same as mathematical facts. I asked for maths.
Sure, they'll let him keep his 60 million pound fortune, including 30-something flats and mansions, and he'll still get to charge hundreds of thousands for speeches and appearances, but a firm slap on the wrists is in order for helping to kill a million people and counting. So long as he says sorry and promises not to do it again...
If they're good enough to play at World Cups, why not in between?
Tony Blair will not be investigated for breaking any laws in the Iraq War inquiry report, despite claims the intervention was illegal.
Sources close to the inquiry, also known as the Chilcot Report, said it would “not seek to determine the guilt of innocence of anybody on trial”, according to The Sunday Telegraph.
The report, due to be published in July, will not make “any judgements on the legality or anything like that, that is not the purpose [of the report]”, the source said.
It will instead focus on the decision making behind the conflict and whether any lessons can be learned. Launched by the US with strong UK backing, the war lead to the deaths of between 150,000 and 600,000 Iraqis over four years.
rowan wrote:Try not to die of shock or anything . . .
Tony Blair will not be investigated for breaking any laws in the Iraq War inquiry report, despite claims the intervention was illegal.
Sources close to the inquiry, also known as the Chilcot Report, said it would “not seek to determine the guilt of innocence of anybody on trial”, according to The Sunday Telegraph.
The report, due to be published in July, will not make “any judgements on the legality or anything like that, that is not the purpose [of the report]”, the source said.
It will instead focus on the decision making behind the conflict and whether any lessons can be learned. Launched by the US with strong UK backing, the war lead to the deaths of between 150,000 and 600,000 Iraqis over four years.
I'm taking a believe-it-when-I-see-it approach to this one...
