There’s only one thing that we all want to know the Chilcott Inquiry to tell us about . The Weapons of Mass Destruction – were they just an illusion?. Was the decision to invade a sovereign state really made on an illusion? Or could it have been a lie?
The 2004 Butler Inquiry, or to give it its full title, the Review of Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction (FULL TEXT HERE) was such a whitewash and so many important facts were glossed-over that it is surprising to find that it was not sponsored by Dulux. The Hutton Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding David Kelly’s death was another missed opportunity for Dulux.
Here is an excerpt from the Butler Report which clearly demonstrated the limp prose of this type of inquiry and how issues are never really deal-with. The specific section which deals with Iraq’s exaggerated capability is on Page 110, Section 449 of the report:
“In general, we found that the original intelligence material was correctly reported in JIC assessments. An exception was the ’45 minute’ report in the several hundred JIC assessments we read on Iraq. In general, we also found that the reliability of the original intelligence reports was fairly represented by the use of accompanying qualifications. We should record in particular that we have found no evidence of deliberate distortion or of culpable negligence.”
The so-called “45-minute report” was an assessment that we were in danger of attack from Iraqi missiles and that we would only have 45 minutes warning. That was utter rubbish, probably written by Alistair Campbell or Peter Mandelson. Note the way that it was dismissed in the Butler Report (above).
Tony Blair also told the House of Commons that the intelligence he received on weapons of mass destruction was ‘detailed, extensive and authoritative’. What he had actually been told by the intelligence community was that the information they had was ‘limited, sporadic and patchy’. That is some mistranslation! Let us hope that the Chilcot enquiry is able to clear-up the misunderstanding.
The Chilcot Inquiry is chaired by The RT Hon Sir John Chilcot GCB who coincidentally rode shotgun for Lord Butler on his inquiry. Needless to say, this has led many commentators to question Chilcot’s assertion that there will be no “whitewash”. As before, committee members were appointed by No 10 Downing Street. That’s how impartial they will be!
The following announcement is not really a good start either: “……..witnesses would be told in advance of the subjects, events and documents about which they would be questioned, although they would not be told the precise lines of questioning.”
“No surprises” questioning is not a very robust technique because witnesses will all be allowed time to prepare and spin their answers.
There is little doubt that the invasion of Iraq was ill-conceived and that preparations were sabotaged by Tony Blair’s government’s attempts to mislead the public. In addition, there was a total lack of preparation for the aftermath of the invasion and members of the British and US governments at the time could be prosecuted for war crimes by breaching the duty outlined in the Geneva convention to safeguard civilians in a conflict.
The usual politicians enemy – The Law of Unforeseen Consequences – is still haunting governments all over the world - the main one being that the actions of George W Bush and Tony Blair kicked over a terrorist nest which is plaguing the world to this day.
In many peoples’ opinion, this is one example where the independence of the judiciary would have been useful had a committee been formed which consisted of members of the legal profession. Preferably those who had already been given their quota of gongs and titles so that there could never be any question of impartiality.
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