Tony Blair has been appalled by the high-profile evidence given by mandarins who have appeared before the Chilcot inquiry since the first round of public hearings began last Tuesday, close friends have revealed. His image has taken a battering over the past six days, as a series of current and former public servants have given evidence that conflicts with the Government's account of the intelligence assessment of Iraq's weapons capability before the invasion in March 2003.
Among the devastating details presented to the inquiry was the revelation that British spies reported 10 days before the invasion that Iraq had "disassembled" what chemical weapons it had – but Mr Blair went ahead and sent troops into battle. Britain's former ambassador to Washington, Sir Christopher Meyer, claimed Mr Blair and Mr Bush had signed a secret deal "in blood" to remove Saddam almost a year before the invasion. He said the agreement in effect left officials scrabbling to find "a smoking gun" to justify going to war.
Mr Blair's friends claimed last week that he has found some of the evidence given so far "distasteful", and potentially damaging to his reputation. "It is clear that the headlines so far have not been helpful to him," a former minister said.
'Damaging To His Reputation'. Ah, bless.
ReplyDeleteChilcot is playing a clever and deliberate game. His final conclusion has already been written, and was probably in his terms of reference as well as the criteria against which he was selected:
ReplyDelete"Mistakes were made. There were questionable instances of judgment, and less than transparent communications and process. However, this committee is satisfied that there are many lessons to be learnt, no illegal acts were committed and everyone concerned behaved with the most honourable of intentions."
So, given that this conclusion has already been written and frozen in concrete, Chilcot has three tasks:
(a) To steer the enquiry to this conclusion
(b) To prevent any evidence that could lead to an indictment
(c) To satisfy the public mood by beating up Blair as well as he can short of any indictment and in line with the already agreed conclusion.
To do this, he is running a deliberate and strenuously non-judicial, non-prosecutorial process. It is, as described, a chat in the club with chaps who know one another, with no need to get heavy or detailed on anything in particular. Its a "lets just get a sense of this stuff" approach. He will not probe beyond a certain point; he will not follow "witnesses" into any dangerous territory; he will not compare what they say to documents he has in his possession unless he can limit the harm to some mild embarrassment. He will work hard to keep everything at the level of hearsay and deniability....your word against Blair's. Blair loves this kind of stuff, and will eat it up for breakfast. He will be devastatingly withering about hearsay claims, and point out how in the context at the time, such claims are ridiculous. He will have the whole tapestry laid out. Chilcot will allow him to see all the documents and any really problematic will be found to have security status and wont be published. That will allow Blair to make things up, as he has always done, without any danger of perjury. In fact, he will seduce the media and the public by telling never-before revealed "facts", that put him in the best possible light and make others look like ass-covering liars (which most of them are).
If I am correct, and this is what is happening, then it is NOT an iterative process, but a carefully executed plan; and it means that all the exhortations from pundits and columnists that Chilcot probe more, reveal documents, hire a lawyer etc, will be irrelevant, because these are outwith the plan.
See if I am not correct. This will be an entirely hearsay enquiry which will lead to the conclusion decided at the outset.
As for Blair's claim that the invasion was justified because Iraq is better off without Saddam and his vile sons, he would do better to consult Iraqis rather than rely on his blind judgment that he did what was right. They are the ones whose country has been plunged into chaos and destruction thanks to Bush and Blair, with millions made homeless and countless thousands dead. The latest of the regular polls of Iraqis, done for the BBC, ABC News and Japan's NHK in February this year, found 56% thought the invasion was wrong.Blair made singularly little effort to open his mind to reliable facts before the invasion, either on intelligence about WMD or on the nature of Iraqi society and the consequences of a western invasion. He should have the humility to do some homework now.
ReplyDeleteWe have a lot to thank Blair and Brown for:
ReplyDeleteInvade and bomb virtually-defenceless third world countries?
Stand 'shoulder to shoulder' with the worst US president in history, slavishly backing his every move?
Collude in kidnap and torture?
Over turn habeas corpus?
Kill presumption of innocence?
Undermine the common law?
Increase the gap between richer and poorer?
Trash the country's education system?
Waste billions of our money on non-reforms of public services?
Bankrupt the country, not the least through dodgy PFI deals?
Waste Billions on control freak IT schemes? (e.g. ID cards)
Run a revolving door at the MoD while the country fights two wars?
Block any UN motions mildly censuring Israel for her war crimes?
Run a tax system that sees cleaners paying more than bankers?
Run a virtually open door immigration policy against the wishes of the electorate?
Max' out their egregious expenses?
Sell seats in the upper chamber of parliament?
Sett up a nanny, snooper state?
Politicise the Rozzers?
Bash protestors at every opp' and don't let then within a mile of parliament?
Selll out to Brussells so totally, that this is no longer a sovereign nation capable of choosng her own destiny?
Oh, gee, but lookee here, isn't that just what Nu Labour's been up to the last 12 years? Whoops. And I could go on, but that lot's just off the top of my head.
How the hell anyone can lend their support to the above BS - and still claim to be "progressive" is beyond me. FFS, If Himmler wore a red rossette you'd vote for him.
Labour voters, Labour members, Labour MPs - you disgust me.