Will Chilcot be any different?

Sally Chatterjee

"Who else could conduct this inquiry?"
What about an outsider? Maybe someone like Eva Joly, the Franco-Swedish judge who has long been the scourge of corrupt politicians in France.

Vulture

Why is it unfair to describe Hutton and Butler as whitewashes - since that's precisely what they were? The only problem is that the patches of rottenness keep seeping through and spoiling the glossy paint.

Chilcot represents another massively expensive and pointless attempt to slap on another coat. But, like the others it won't wash. The criminal conspiracy that caused thousands of deaths in Iraq is obvious to everyone. The arch culprit Bliar shoulld never have another night's undisturbed sleep. His proper place is not hoovering up millions from gullible US audiences but answering for his crimes in the dock at The Hague.

Beer Moth

All the money wasted paying these people for all this useless work, would be better spent on more kit for the troops so they can get the job done.

TrevorsDen

There is very little point to this investigation.

There was nothing wrong or illegal about the Iraqi invasion. The world is a better place with out Saddams aggression and demagoguery. And the Middle East is one small step further forward towards a future where differences are solved without shooting each other (the word 'democracy' should be used warily here).

The investigation should be into the 2001 decision. Its just as valid to say that THAT opinion was wrong.

Still, they have bought themselves a nice logo.

Short the UK

What a waste of taxpayers money as it will be a pastiche. It's like MPs deciding each others petty fraud. Banana republic plc.

Paul Woodhouse

They have an enquiry logo !!!! Is that normal? Who paid for it? Will there be merchandising - a tour perhaps? Sickening.

Holly ......

Erm........NO!

Dennis Churchill

I think this will just be one of the Inquiries over the next decade. Each one will tease out more of the truth.
The problem Conspirators have ,in this day and age ,is there is no loyalty, as understood by past generations, so it is almost impossible to keep secrets for any length of time.
The Telegraph has a story about the Rules of Engagement forced on our troops by Ministers.
Ministers valued Iraqi lives as equal to British lives. The general public does not. We will hear more about the consequences of these impositions as they are leaked by Army personnel.

circus monkey

Since there is no shortgage of cowardice in public life to-day I am confident that people will be "leant on" and the guilty escape

Chris

Can it be stipulated, for the purpose of comment on this and future posts, that 'whitewash' is a synonym for 'result I don't agree with,' and has no bearing on the accuracy or otherwise of the report in question? No, I thought not. Boredom and a signal to noise ratio of 1:1 awaits us.

strapworld

Sir John Chilcott will criticise the process. Will condemn the MOD for lack of planning, leaving our troops without proper equipment -he may make recommendations for a new method of purchasing equipment. Even suggest there is a store -kept up to date- of equipment ready for sudden emergencies and wars! Now that would be novel! He will criticise the Foreign Office.

No politician or civil servant will be singled out for criticism. Blair will be praised! Mark my words!

This, please remember, is an establishment committee. Created for the protection of those that control us. Please do not expect heads to roll - unless they can blame a trooper or a very low level civil servant.

Much praise for our armed services. Great difficulty under fire etc. etc. etc.

Whitewash it will not be but a very nice shade of magnolia!

Goodbye Gordon

Many of us would like to see Tony Blair answering charges for starting an illegal war in Court and ultimately, we would like him to be found guilty. Sadly, we all know that this will not happen and he will carry on making millions while lecturing the rest of us on the evils of materialism or dining with the Pope. He will do all of this while looking condescendingly upon us with his perma-tan grin and with his covetous wife in tow picking up any stray money he might have missed. We know that this will be the outcome and it frustrates us because our only recourse is to damn Chilcot and his merry men whilst choking with frustration at the unfairness of it all.

DavidDP

The Butler inquiry was certainly not a white wash. I believe it was in the Speccie itself that he gave an interview explaining how he had provided all the necessary knives, not believing that as a civil servant he should deliver the stabs, only to discover much to his astonishment that the press went with pre-written "whitewash" claims.

Cogito Ergosum

What some of us want to know is not whether the war is supposedly illegal in the eyes of the UN or others. The real question is, why did a policy so disastrous to British interests come about?

It seems that Mr Brown, as Chancellor, had firm ideas about what kind of spending was worthwhile, and what was not. Hence his refusal to fund the armed forces or the building of jails. Question: how far did this contribute to the Iraq policy disaster?

Boudicca

I suspect that the Chilcot enquiry will go further than the earlier ones in identifying serious policy failures and possible (but of course unintentional) misleading of Parliament and the electorate.

Blair and his Government will be tarred with the brush of incompetence rather than illegality and war crimes ... but deep down, we will all know the truth. We were lied to; thousands died unnecessarily and OUR Government colluded with a pre-ordained decision made by the USA. Blair will get off the hook and no doubt pray to his God for forgiveness .... because the British and Iraqi people won't forgive him. Evil, megalomaniac bas...d that he is.

JONNY

Should Blair be placed in the dock?
Yes he should.
Will the Chilcott enquiry put him there?
No it won't.
Duiux Special Glossy Whitewaah washes ever whiter.

Moraymint

" ... Gordon Brown’s role in decision making, which remains an unknown quantity ...".

Gordon Brown doesn't make decisions, does he? Or, if/when he does, he does so in a Machiavellian and spiteful way with little intention beyond screwing some perceived political enemy or other. Venom runs in his blood, doesn't it?

I don't think we'll learn much from investigating Brown's role in the conflict; apart, perhaps, from his vice-like grip on defence spending, war or no war.

dilys

Why not the Bishop of Bath & Wells?

Frank P

I was trying to remember tonight who Chilcott reminds me of; then he uttered the phrase, "The dey wawar brork owt ..." and that was it! Sandy Powell! But in this version of Variety Bandbox he's the dummy, not the ventriloquist.

Amadeus Plonquer

The final pronouncement of the Chilcot Enquiry may well not bring closure. However, it may provide the UK with a unexpected prescription for our current economic malaise!!

Think. Instead of Brown's plan to make Britain the world's #1 manufacturer of electric cars, Chilcot may inadvertantly redefine the UK as the world's pre-eminent manufacturer of torches and pitchforks.

Cuffleyburgers

Civil action against Blair based on the lies he told to the public and parliament.

It should be possible as a result of the reports of these various enquiries to nail the deliberate misleading and the lies which were used as the basis of this war.

I write as somebody who supported the invasion as the leastbad option on the basis of the information available at the time, but is sickened by the evidence that I was repeatedly lied to.

Pete-s

Answer - No it won't. This is because all inquiries that are about government are always a whitewash. Broon did everything possible to delay it, there's your answer before you start!

Sir Graphus

“may disclose new information on Gordon Brown’s role in decision making”

As I understood it, both Brown and Straw were against the war. They had the power, therefore to prevent British involvement in Iraq, and as a result Blair would have stood down and the prize would have been theirs for the taking.

However, both were/are cowards for whom their principles, and soldiers’ lives, were worth a great deal less then their careers. Brown is a bully, so would never have taken on an opponent who is stronger than him; his rise to the top is marked by the ruthless bullying of weaker rivals.

anne allan

If it's the Bishop of Bath and Wells who ate babies for breakfast - then bring him on.
Grilled Tony Blair with baked beans and black pudding would be a most welcome sight.

Ian Westbrook

"Who else could conduct this inquiry?"

Someone like Phillipe Sands QC - a critic of the war. Given what we know it is for the government to prove that they did nothing wrong, not for it to be proven that they did. Chilcot has said this isn't a trial - the British public _want_ a trial, with cross-examination of witnesses to get at the truth of what happened. But then if that were to occur Tony Blair - far from whoring his way around the boardrooms of the world - would be a in a cell for a long, long time, as he deserves to be...

Michael Booth

FrankP -
"I was trying to remember tonight who Chilcott reminds me of; then he uttered the phrase, "The dey wawar brork owt ..." and that was it! Sandy Powell! But in this version of Variety Bandbox he's the dummy, not the ventriloquist".

Wasn't it Rob Wilton who did the 'Day war broke out' sketch? Sandy Powell doesn't seem quite right.

'Can you hear me, mother?'

Beer Moth

Ian Westbrook.

Speak for yourself. Many people would like to be rid of such ridiculous processes and their attendant cost.

'Given what we know'? If you know so much about what happened in this affair, and if, as is evident, you have already made up your mind where the blame - if such a concept is valid in this situation - should be put; then an inquiry is of little use, even to you and others of like mind.

Beer Moth

Denis Churchill.

'it was in line with Israeli policy.' Well that worked didn't it?

How about that other one: "It was all about the oil"

Chuck Unsworth

" As Sir John put it in his opening remarks, “The findings of previous investigations have eased our task in finding relevant material.” "

If I were cynical I might just substitute 'finding relevant material' with 'defining our conclusions'.