Chilcot report live: Blair sent troops to Iraq before peaceful options had been exhausted

[Denzil_DC]

Looks like the Chilcot Report isn't the whitewash that had been rumoured in advance.

Tony Blair deliberately exaggerated the threat posed by the Iraqi regime as he sought to make the case for military action to MPs and the public in the buildup to the invasion in 2002 and 2003, the Chilcot inquiry has found.

In his forensic account of the way Blair and his ministers built the case for military action, Chilcot finds the then Labour prime minister – who had promised US president George W Bush, “I will be with you, whatever”– disregarded warnings about the potential consequences of military action and relied too heavily on his own beliefs, rather than the more nuanced judgements of the intelligence services.

In particular, Chilcot identifies two separate, key occasions in the buildup to the conflict, against the background of mass protests on the streets of London by the Stop the War coalition, when Blair appears to have overplayed the threat from Iraq and underplayed the risks of invasion.

In the House of Commons on 24 September 2002, Mr Blair presented Iraq’s past, current and future capabilities as evidence of the severity of the potential threat from Iraq’s WMD . He said that, at some point in the future, that threat would become a reality,” Chilcot says.

But Chilcot argues instead: “The judgments about Iraq’s capabilities in that statement, and in the dossier published the same day, were presented with a certainty that was not justified.”

Read the full story here:
Tony Blair deliberately exaggerated threat from Iraq, Chilcot report finds
Iraq war inquiry says the then prime minister disregarded warnings of the risks as he built case for military action

Guardian liveblog coverage here: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2016/jul/06/chilcot-report-live-inquiry-war-iraq

X-posted on GD

[LeftishBrit]

1. No wonder no one seemed to want Chilcot to hurry to release the report

Well, it's pretty much stating the bleeding obvious, but good that it's finally been made official.

[Denzil_DC]

2. And Cameron, utterly predictably, defends interventionism.

Shameless.

[Denzil_DC]

3. An impressively robust speech from Tim Farron,

invoking the memory of Charles Kennedy - another figure very much on the right side of history.

Corbyn's contribution was wide-ranging (I suspect the real fireworks if any will come next week during the two full days of debates scheduled), but Farron's was brief and focused, and surprisingly passionate.

Ann Clwyd, one of the main proponents of intervention on purely (and I believe genuinely held) humanitarian grounds, then claims that "many Iraqis" would thank us today for going to war. I'm not so sure about that.

[Denzil_DC]

4. It maybe should be noted that at one point the Speaker had to intervene

in no uncertain terms while Corbyn was speaking because he was being so loudly and concertedly heckled.

The BBC just stated this came from his own benches (couldn't tell myself), where some were shouting "Shut up!" "Sit down!"

[Denzil_DC]

6. One of them was Ian Austin:

From the liveblog:

In the Commons Jeremy Corbyn was heckled by the Labour MP Ian Austin when he was delivering his statement about the Chilcot report. Austin shouted:

Sit down and shut up. You’re a disgrace.

This has outraged some Corbyn supporters, but Austin does not seem to bothered. He has retweeted this.

— Adrie the immigrant (@adrievdm)
July 6, 2016

@frankthetank622 @AMoveToTheLeft If you witnessed @IanAustinMP heckle Jeremy & are upset plz report him to [e-mail]

[Denzil_DC]

5. If anybody has the time and appetite to read the report's full 12 volumes,

here it is: http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/the-report/

[Denzil_DC]

7. This is parliament right now:

Tory benches to the left. Blair relied on Tory votes to tip the balance to go to war.

[Denzil_DC]

8. And, for the record, there it is:

[steve2470]

9. +1 nt

[Denzil_DC]

10. He addressed the families of the war dead

(well, some of them ...).

Got a standing ovation as he entered.

[steve2470]

11. he's an excellent man nt

[T_i_B]

12. Confirms what many of us suspected

Last edited Thu Jul 7, 2016, 04:23 AM - Edit history (2)

But will politicians and society at large learn from the disastrous mess of the Iraq war?

I do worry that lessons haven't been learned. Cabinet, MP's and media provided little challenge to Blair's plans. And I do worry that the British system is such that bad proposals from the executive branch of government don't get challenged in the way that they should.

[Matilda]

13. Came through here late last night.

Implicit in the findings of the enquiry is not only criticism of Blair's actions, but also Bush's.

Apparently, Geoffrey Robertson's opinion is that the ICC isn't set up to try a case like this, but I do wish there was some way he could be brought to account.

I was appalled by his statement that "I would do it all again" – you'd think at least he'd plead benefit of hindsight to say he would do things differently.

The man's a sociopath.