Thursday, 18 June 2009

IRAQ-THE SECRET INQUIRY


Butler attacks secret Iraq probe

What is wrong with this Government? They just don’t get it do they?

“Saint” Anthony Blair took us into the Iraq war against our wishes; he is responsible for the hundreds of our soldiers’ deaths. He took us in on the premise that Sadam had WMDs and the fact that his nose was so far up Bush’s arse that he was deaf to everything else.

Sadam didn’t have WMDs at least none that could be found, and now that the inquiry is starting Gord’s gang want it to be held in secret, he doesn’t want us to know the truth, don’t forget he was one of those who backed the war.

A war which was not entered into for the good of the people of Iraq but for the protection of the oil reserves that the USA coveted.

The author of the last official report into the Iraq war, Lord Butler, is to criticise the government's plans to hold a new inquiry behind closed doors.

He will accuse the government of "putting its political interests ahead of the national interest".

The former cabinet secretary will argue in the Lords later that there should be a public element to the inquiry, BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson says.

The government says it wants to avoid damaging Britain's national security.

But Lord Butler believes that the inquiry, to be chaired by one of those who sat on his inquiry - senior civil servant Sir John Chilcot - must do more than "learn the lessons" from the war.

There must, he will say, be a "truth and reconciliation" element to it as well.

Conservative leader David Cameron accused Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who announced the inquiry on Monday, of "an establishment stitch-up", while the Lib Dems have threatened to boycott the inquiry if it is held in private.

MPs will debate a Tory motion next week calling for the inquiry's proceedings to be held in public "whenever possible".

The inquiry will cover the period from July 2001 to July 2009. Hearings will start next month and take at least a year.

Announcing the inquiry in the Commons on Monday, Mr Brown said it was designed on a similar basis to the Franks inquiry and it would aim to identify "lessons learned".

He added it would hear evidence in private so witnesses could be "as candid as possible".
He said the final report would reveal "all but the most secret of information" and the "unprecedented" process would be "fully independent of government".

Lord Butler's 2004 inquiry, which itself took all its evidence in private, found "serious flaws" in the intelligence used to justify war with Iraq.

The 196 page report said MI6 did not check its sources well enough, and sometimes relied on third hand reports.

It also says the 2002 dossier used by the government to make the case for war should not have included the claim Iraq could use weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes without further explanation.

The Butler inquiry was also designed along similar lines to the Franks inquiry, in that it was given access to all intelligence reports and other relevant documents.


So come on Gord: let us know the truth, admit that it was wrong to sign up to the American resources gambit, because you are now so deep in the runny stuff that you know you don’t have a felines’ chance in the underworld of winning the next election, you know that it will do you no harm to let the cat out of the bag and treat the electorate the way we should be treated, with respect and the truth.



Angus

Angus Dei on all and sundry

NHS Behind the headlines

Angus Dei-NHS-THE OTHER SIDE

No comments: