We have waited too long for the Chilcot Inquiry. I do not have to tell you this, the Lib Dems were after all the only one of the three major parties (despite the Tories fuss now) to disagree with going to war in Iraq.
I am proud to say that it was the Liberal Democrat party who marched officially as a party to protest against the war. The estimated 1.5 million marchers going along Piccadilly were subsequently all disappointed that the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, completely ignored their representations on the biggest march that had taken place in Britain in recent times.
Over the past years I have used my position in the House of Lords to continue to ask when this report will be published. Despite recent coverage I still feel I am no closer to getting an answer.
Most recently, I raised the fact that the longer this draws on, the more it looks like a whitewash. This continuing delay is an utter and total disgrace after so much time has elapsed. It is more than ten years since we made the decision to invade Iraq. We remember, and should not forget, the results of that fateful decision: the many thousands of Iraqi civilians, including women and children, who were killed after this invasion and the destruction brought upon the region. Nick said in his letter to John Chilcot: “nearly six years on members of the public, soldiers and their families affected by the war are still waiting for closure.” This statement is as true for Iraqis as it is for people here.
I once told the House “It is a very long process and the sooner it is published the better, but there is still a considerable delay.” That was in 2012, only three years into the inquiry, three more years have passed and I can’t believe that sentence remains as true today as it did then.
This is a matter of huge importance, hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost, trillions has been spent, and for what. We must know why we went to war, what our role was in creating this death and destruction. This is too important to kick into the long grass. I for one cannot wait much longer.
* Hugh Dykes is a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords
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10 Comments
White Wash all over this
Fortunately, people now know things would be no different under a Lib Dem government, The Lib Dems are as much a part of the establishment as the Tories and Labour are,
Yesterday I got seriously annoyed at the Lib Dems trying to play partisan politics with Gulf War 2 when they tried to bomb Syria because of weapons of mass destruction (very similar, you see). I could understand other reasons, but not that reason.
I’ll have to start my own blog to elaborate more on this, but Lib Dems talking about making others accountable for foreign policy decisions increase my motivation to do it.
We have had to wait years for this Inquiry and the frustration is only compounded by the fact that we continue to see the effects of the devastating turbulence caused by the Iraq war all around us. Other more recent interventions have also been of dubious value such as our support for the rebels in Libya. If Chilcot had been published sooner, it is just possible that we might have learnt some useful lessons. To quote Ken Clarke in the Commons debate: of 26th September 2014 on the ISIS strikes,“What happened in all those cases [Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya],was that the military deployment produced a situation at least as bad as it had been before and actually largely worse,”
Do the Lib Dems officially believe that people shouldn’t be allowed to present a defence of their actions to inquiries? That seems to be the impression they are giving from these demands that Chilcot be published despite not having responses from many individuals named in the report!
That doesn’t seem very liberal.
Obviously it’s unthinkable that they’d take advantage of an apolitical cross-party inquiry into a complicated and difficult military action that resulted in 100s of British deaths and 10,000s Iraqi deaths and use it for political gain in an election campaign. That would be outrageously cynical.
Strangely enough I don’t think it’s Blair delaying things. Having watched a couple of recent interviews I think he is actually relishing the chance to defend his position….. Unbelievably he still seems to feel the argument can be won…
Well done, Hugh Dykes. Keep up the pressure!
I have no faith in the report, I don’t believe it will tell us anything new or lead to any changes. I expect most people feel like that about most such reports.
Thanks Hugh for pushing on the issue but that fact you have got nowhere it rather shows how useless these reports are.
I see the Lib Dem petition clearly labels the Iraq war illegal. What about this from the New York Times saying bombing Syria might have been illegal? Written two days before parliament’s vote.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/28/opinion/bomb-syria-even-if-it-is-illegal.html?_r=0
I hope people are watching. I know I certainly am.
“I am proud to say that it was the Liberal Democrat party who marched officially as a party to protest against the war.”
But that was another party, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away: a party full of idealists, unacquainted with the realities of governing. Hopefully that party’s supporters though – Paul Barker’s legendary sleepers, presumably cosy under the blankets under the Isle of Avalon with King Arthur – will wake 5 minutes before the election to save the day, sallying forth with their votes.