The Iraq inquiry must focus on the legality of the war

Bereaved families must not be allowed to divert the Iraq inquiry from examining the legality of the war

FIRST POSTED JUNE 23, 2009

The call by Sir John Chilcot, chairman of the Iraq War inquiry, for some of the evidence to be heard in public is welcome. But it sets the alarm bells ringing about the purpose of the inquiry.

Chilcot is under enormous pressure from the families of soldiers killed in Iraq to focus on the failures in planning and supply of equipment that led to the deaths of their sons and daughters. There is now a risk that the public parts of the inquiry will be used as a catharsis for the families of the dead soldiers.

It is understandable that the families want to seize the inquiry as an opportunity to assuage their pain. But it will be a total failure of the inquiry if it stops there. The key focus must be the legality of the decision to go to war.

Blair, a lawyer, knew that regime change alone was not a legal basis for war

I was at the press conference on April 6, 2002 given jointly by George Bush and Tony Blair in Crawford, Texas, Bush's home town. This was the ranch summit at which it is said they did the secret deal to go ahead with the invasion the following March.

I remember the sharp intake of breath among the British delegation when Bush told John Sergeant, then BBC political editor, that Blair's language might be more nuanced but he believed in "regime change".

Bush said: "He [Saddam] told the world that he would show us that he would not develop weapons of mass destruction and yet over the past decade he has refused to do so. And the Prime Minister and I both agree that he needs to prove that he isn't developing weapons of mass destruction. I explained to the Prime Minister that the policy of my government is the removal of Saddam and that all options are on the table."

Challenged by Sergeant about the legality of what he had just said, Bush responded: "Maybe I should be a little less direct and be a little more nuanced and say we support regime change."

Blair, a lawyer, knew that regime change by itself was not a legal basis for declaring war on another country, however despised that country's dictator might be. If it were legal, why hadn't we declared war on President Mugabe of Zimbabwe?

Blair insisted that Saddam had repeatedly broken UN resolutions, but neither was that reason enough to go to war. He and his entourage were alarmed at

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Of course it wasn't legal! And Blair knew that, and falsified the evidence for war. The Chilcot report has already been charged with "not apportioning blame" - but that is exactly what it *should* and *must* do. There needs to be a trial of the guilty men that arises from Chilcot - and Blair, Hoon, Brown, Straw and Miliband deserve to go to jail for a very, very long time.

Posted by neil mcgowan at 8:56pm on June 23, 2009

"Blair, Hoon, Brown, Straw and Miliband deserve to go to jail for a very, very long time." ...............................No chance!

Posted by Alan Dawes at 12:03pm on June 24, 2009

Blair boasted about a year or so after the war, (when he thought he was in the clear) that 'regime change' was the raison d'etre for the war, and comtemptuously dismissed any comparisons between his and bush's actions and that of Saddam's. His '99 liberal interventionist speech in Chicago was a disingenuous way of rationalising his despicable actions. His biggest mistake, however, was in sniping at Brown from the sidelines, and allowing his Blairites to seek to destabilise him. Perhaps this could be Brown's revenge; in which case, we might be able to look to the inquiry with optimism that it might get at the truth.

Posted by negotiator at 5:00pm on June 24, 2009

"Blair, Hoon, Brown, Straw and Miliband" ... how about Alistair Campbell? - his belligerence extended to the sacking (if not more - Kelly?) of anyone who dared to state/broadcast anything factual. Don't even get me started on the promotion of those who toed the party line.

Posted by WhoDatDere at 10:05pm on June 24, 2009

what we are observing is the end of Tier 1 Blairites......."Luckily" for Lord Mandelson he was out for a while........He is indeed an institution!

Posted by ashcash at 10:50am on June 25, 2009

what we had at the time was a virtual secret pact by Blair and Bush to blame Iraq for 9/11 and Saddam was the perfect pantomime villan .The so called dossier was sexed up exactly as Gilligan said and Doctor Kelly was driven to suicide by Blair and Campbell and the only major public figure to stand up against the lies Greg Dyke was removed from the BBC. A shameful episode in British politics but of course no one will be prosecuted .

Posted by terry wilson at 1:05pm on June 26, 2009

Nothing would be more just and show to the world that there is indeed a new world order than the prosecution of Bush, Blair Cheyney and co for war crimes. Of course the war was illegal, as hundreds of lawyers from countries all over stated at the time.Nothing annoys me more than Tony Blair's swagger, totally without conscience, like he had done nothing wrong!

Posted by Yolande Agble at 3:41am on July 23, 2009