Chilcot inquiry into Iraq war delayed until after election

by Irn Bru Wed Jan 21, 2015 8:40 am

The long-awaited Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war will not be published until after the general election in May.

The inquiry was originally set up by the then prime minister Gordon Brown in 2009 and took public evidence from its last witness in 2011.

http://www.itv.com/news/story/2015-01-20/chilcot-inquiry-into-iraq-war-delayed-until-after-election/

Get the thing out now and let's have a proper debate about how our politicians rushed to war - including the support of the trigger happy Tory Party, especially Iain Duncan Smith. They really do have short memories.

'Saddam must be ousted now, says Duncan Smith'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1388060/Saddam-must-be-ousted-now-says-Duncan-Smith.html

by nicko Wed Jan 21, 2015 10:04 am

IRN, I think the report is being held back by pressure from labour, if it were made public before the election it would show the balls up Blair made over the Iraq war and damage Labours chances.

by Irn Bru Wed Jan 21, 2015 11:10 am

nicko wrote:IRN, I think the report is being held back by pressure from labour, if it were made public before the election it would show the balls up Blair made over the Iraq war and damage Labours chances.

I doubt that and I seriously doubt that it would have such a dramatic effect on how people cast their votes. Blair is long gone and history.
You need to look at how the trigger happy Tories rushed to the side of the government to back the war and defeat an amendment by 139 Labour MPs to stop it.
That's a debate worth having - would you like the voting figures?

by nicko Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:46 pm

IT'S ok IRN I believe you, as usual we agree to disagree.

by veya_victaous Wed Jan 21, 2015 10:04 pm

Former UK prime minister and alleged war criminal Tony Blair was called out at the Davos World Economic Forum as the instigator of extremist instability in the Middle East.

“I think you have a great responsibility for the conflicts we have now.”

Blair wasn’t having any of that though, and asserted that there was instability already in France, Mali and Nigeria and that a lack of intervention led to current events in Syria.

It’s a glib argument that doesn’t take into account cumulative events or how the Iraq war served as added motivation.

In related news, the UK is delaying a report on the Iraq Inquiry, investigating how UK troops behaved and the aftermath of the war. In fact, the report has been delayed until after the May elections.

As if on a denial spree, Tony Blair released a statement saying he wasn’t responsible for the report’s delay. And, in today’s lesson on inexplicable political statements, Deputy PM Clegg said he fretted the report’s delay would mean it was “sexed down”.

by Irn Bru Thu Jan 22, 2015 12:43 am

Well let's hope the Chilcot report doesn't end up in an establishment whitewash just like the Franks report did with the Falklands war in which 257 British lives were lost due to incompetence by the Thatcher government. At least Lord Carrington had the decency to resign over the whole sordid affair even though he was not to blame but carried the can.
Even the Mail ran an article on it describing it as just that - an establishment whitewash and a cover up.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-207279/Franks-inquiry-slammed-whitewash.html

They didn't want to send a few ships down to the Falklands to make it known to the Argentine government that Britain was committed to the Falklands in case it upset them even though Callaghan did just that in 1977 when they last did a bit of sabre rattling

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