Chilcot report on Blair & Iraq war

[robert99]

Chilcot report: Reaction to Iraq War Inquiry findings - BBC News
Brexit, political infighting, economic shake up and now the Chilcot Report. The UK is tearing itself apart.

 

[Second Summer]

Yes, there is a lot on the UK politics front these days. Exciting times for those of us who are interested in these matters

I understand that the Chilcot report is a lot more damning than anticipated.

It seems to justify my personal conviction to refuse mandatory military service on the basis of complete distrust in the competence of political and military decision-makers. (In addition to many other concerns.) The war wasn't justified, and UK soldiers ended up dead or injured due to inadequate training and equipment.

 

[Moll Flanders]

I was surprised how scathing the report was as I expected the whole thing to be whitewashed.

I still feel guilty that I didn't go to the march against the war in Iraq in 2003, but to me at the time it seemed like most British people generally supported getting rid of Saddam, even if it meant war.

Article from 2003 Iraq: the case for decisive action | Politics | The Guardian

ETA - I found a YouGov poll about Iraq.

 

[robert99]

Tony Blair says world is better as a result of Iraq War - BBC News
Tony Blair says world is better as a result of Iraq War
Really?! Can someone name all the good things that have happened?

 

[robert99]

Looks like Blair's second in command does n't agree with him.
John Prescott: Ex-deputy PM says Iraq War was illegal - BBC News
John Prescott: Ex-deputy PM says Iraq War was illegal
John Prescott, who was deputy prime minister when Britain went to war with Iraq in 2003, says the invasion by UK and US forces was "illegal".

Writing in the Sunday Mirror, he said he would live with the "catastrophic decision" for the rest of his life.

Lord Prescott said he now agreed "with great sadness and anger" with former UN secretary general Kofi Annan that the war was illegal.

He also praised Labour's Jeremy Corbyn for apologising on the party's behalf.

Lord Prescott also said Prime Minister Tony Blair's statement that "I am with you, whatever" in a message to US President George W Bush before the invasion in March 2003, was "devastating".

The former deputy PM said the Chilcot report had gone into great detail about what went wrong, but he wanted to identify "certain lessons we must learn".

"My first concern was the way Tony Blair ran Cabinet. We were given too little paper documentation to make decisions," he wrote.

No documentation was provided to justify Attorney-general Lord Goldsmith's opinion that action against Iraq was legal, he added.

 

[shyvas]

I have not followed this and have such heard a few brief comments on the news. I feel very sorry for all the families involved as so many people were killed.

I'm just wondering why this has come to light after so many years ?

 

[AeryFairy]

I have not followed this and have such heard a few brief comments on the news. I feel very sorry for all the families involved as so many people were killed.

I'm just wondering why this has come to light after so many years ?

The report is the result of a little over 7 years' worth of investigation - the enquiry was launched while the Iraq War was still in progress. It's been a long time coming.

 

[Second Summer]

I'm curious why it took 7 years - that seems extraordinarily long.

 

[AeryFairy]

I'm curious why it took 7 years - that seems extraordinarily long.

Iraq Inquiry: What is the Chilcot report and why does it matter? - BBC News

Why has the report taken so long?
The inquiry was announced by the former prime minister Gordon Brown in June 2009. The assumption, at the time, was that it would take two or three years at most but it soon became apparent it would be much longer.

The first phase was a series of public hearings in which senior politicians, military commanders and diplomats were questioned. This was briefly interrupted by the 2010 general election but came to an end in February 2011.

The subsequent delays which followed have angered the relatives of those killed as well as politicians on all sides of the debate.

The report is a massive undertaking, almost unprecedented in scope, and the inquiry conceded that it underestimated the scale of the task and needed more resources to begin with. There have also been unforeseen events such as Sir Martin Gilbert's death.

But the main reason for the delay was the long tussle between the inquiry and the government over which classified material could be published alongside the report, or referred to in it.

Not exactly an adequate answer, but I can kind of understand it - it probably would have taken me a lot longer