Felicity Arbuthnot
Warrior for Peace and Justice 

The banners and placards outside London’s Queen Elizabeth 11 Conference Centre – where the findings of the seven year awaited Chilcot Inquiry in to the Blair government’s illegal and catastrophic invasion of Iraq were to be revealed – reflected an anger undiminished since maybe two million people marched against the war in the city on 15th February 2003. Thirty six million are estimated to have demonstrated across the world.

On “Chilcot Wednesday”, 6th July, as Sir John Chilcot’s findings were awaited the fury still directed towards Tony Blair for the commitments he had made, unknown to Parliament, to George W. Bush and for the lies in documents giving the excuse for war under his watch, were palpable.

Two figures with Blair masks and bloody hands walked through the crowd, followed by two “Judges” in full formal regalia and wigs, past signs held high: “Blair, now is the time to pay for your crimes”, “Justice for Iraq, The Hague for Blair”, “Tony Blair ‘Peace Envoy’ – What an oxy-Moron” and referring to Blair’s fantasy that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction which could hit the West in “forty five minutes” there was: “Forty five minutes from Truth and Justice?”

Nicholas Wood, author of the meticulous book: “War Crime or Just War? The Case Against Blair”, had designed a thirty foot long banner with “Blair Must Face War Crimes Trial”, which was unveiled to the media outside Blair’s house at London’s 29 Connaught Square at 7 a.m., to greet Blair as he left for the Inquiry. (1)

He was also faced by relentless Iraq war protester and renowned actor Michael Culver, wearing a T-shirt reading: “2,000,000 Dead, 4,000,000 Fled, Genocide, Theft, Torture, Starvation.”

For a man holding integral responsibility for the ongoing deaths of probably now well over two million souls, so terrified that he has round the clock protection of 20 police officers – paid for by the taxpayer – it must have been a very bad start to his day of judgement.

Having ambushed Tony Blair, the banner was then then carried the mile-plus walk to the Conference Centre to further wide press exposure.

It was Green MP Caroline Lucas who gave the crowd the first hint of what might be to come. She had read an advance copy of the Summary of the Report since early morning. It was, she said: “Worse than your worst fears … diplomatic routes had not been exhausted, intelligence was flawed” and those responsible “must be held to account”, she demanded.

For a 2.6 million word document, ITV probably had the most succinct summary (2) of a tome which will be pored over for months and years:

• The ex-prime minister was accused of exaggerating the threat posed by Saddam Hussein
• An emotional Blair defended the war, saying he would make same decision again
• http://metro.co.uk/2016/07/06/this-is-what-greeted-tony-blair-as-he-set-off-for-chilcot-inquiry-5988506/
• http://www.itv.com/news/update/2016-07-07/hammond-removing-members-of-iraqi-government-was-mistake/
• https://mobile.twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/750649203324489728/photo/1

 



About the author
Senior Contributing Editor FELICITY ARBUTHNOT resides in London, UK, and is an internationally respected expert in Middle East affairs - particularly Iraq which she has visited Iraq dozens of times. She was  a senior researcher on John Pilger's film Paying the Price — Killing the Children of Iraq, which investigated the devastating effect of United Nations sanctions on people of Iraq.^[1]   Ms. Arbuthnot is a dedicated pacificist, and her work proves the adage that "the pen is mightier than the sword."



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Felicity Arbuthnot
Warrior for Peace and Justice

“But then, once in a lifetime
the longed for tidal wave
of justice can rise up,
and hope and history rhyme.
Believe that a further shore
is reachable from here.
Believe in miracles.”
(Seamus Heaney, 1939-2013, “The Cure at Troy.”)

In an astonishing revelation, the Daily Telegraph has established that Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague will examine the Chilcot Inquiry Report into the Iraq invasion – due to be released on Wednesday 6th July: “ … for evidence of abuse and torture by British soldiers but have already ruled out putting Tony Blair on trial for war crimes …” (1)

Whilst the Report is “expected to strongly criticize” Blair’s role in the illegal invasion: “It means individual soldiers could be prosecuted for war crimes but not Mr. Blair.” This, in spite of the fact that it is now confirmed that Blair’s commitment to George W. Bush’s determination to invade Iraq was made personally, a year before the assault, at a meeting at Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, without the knowledge of Parliament.

The ICC however, whilst considering the introduction of a crime of aggression, thus bringing illegal invasions into their legal remit – to which Bush and Blair’s actions would seemingly be relevant – would “not apply retrospectively.” Thus, currently the: “decision by the UK to go to war in Iraq falls outside the Court’s jurisdiction.”

Whilst any British or US soldier responsible for the litany of appalling crimes committed in Iraq should be pursued relentlessly – which has broadly been less than the case to date – the ultimate responsibility for the whole tragic disaster for which both countries’ leaders and military brass will surely be haunted throughout history, lies with those at the political top. Their blatant mistruths led to the invasion and its bloody, inhuman, ignorant, culturally clueless, unending aftermath.

Of the ICC decision, Reg Keys, who stood against Blair in the 2005 election and whose twenty year old son, Tom was killed in Iraq said: “It makes me very angry. They don’t call him Teflon Tony for nothing.”

However, Anthony Charles Linton Blair, QC, will still have to spend a lot of time looking over his shoulder. In what the Daily Mail describes as: “a dramatic attempt to impeach Tony Blair for misleading Parliament over the Iraq war”, a cross party group of MPs are building support: “for an attempted prosecution of the former Prime Minister”, after Wednesday’s publication of the Inquiry’s findings. (2)

The MPs are using an ancient parliamentary power, unused since 1806 to bring Blair to trial in Parliament. The group’s charge is that: “he should be impeached over allegations (that) he breached his constitutional duties as Premier.” His pivotal claims regarding Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction – which, he had asserted, could reach the West “in 45 minutes” –  had been “contradicted by his own intelligence (agencies) assessments”, points out the Mail.

A parliamentary source told the Mail: “Impeachment is on our minds, but we will need to digest the Report. There is definitely a feeling that Blair must be properly held to account for his actions in the run up to what was a disastrous war.”

Not so much a war but the near annihilation of a sovereign nation without even the minimal wherewithal of self defense, many will reflect.

If the impeachment attempt is approved by MPs, the defendant is delivered to the top parliamentary ceremonial official, known as Black Rod, ahead of a trial. “A simple majority is required to convict, at which point a sentence can be passed, which could, in theory, involve Mr. Blair being sent to prison.”

The MPs are not alone in their potential plans. Whatever the Chilcot Inquiry report may lack in judgmental findings, it will deliver to relevant legal experts a wealth of potential for civil litigation against all responsible for crimes against sovereignty, humanity, the peace – and what many will argue has been genocide.

The Chilcot Inquiry report is 2.6 million words. Many figures show that between the embargo, the 1991 desert slaughter, the silent holocaust of the residual deaths from the Depleted Uranium weapons (radioactive residue 4.5 billion years) and the 2003 invasion – massacres ongoing -that number may represent less than one word for every Iraqi death caused by our actions..

1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/02/outrage-as-war-crimes-prosecutors-say-tony-blair-will-not-be-inv/
2. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3670751/MPs-say-ll-use-ancient-law-impeach-Tony-Blair-misleading-Parliament-Iraq-war-wake-Chilcot-report.html

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Felicity Arbuthnot

Warrior for Peace and Justice

Tony Blair went hand in hand with G.W. Bush into the realm of Lies for Profit, and for a certainly Mr. Blair has profited greatly. It is to be hoped that the Chilcot Inquiry demands accountability for the incalculable damage done in lives, land, and culture. It is also hoped that those in the US will grab the findings to bring their own war criminals to task. -rw

Anthony Charles Lynton Blair currently back in Britain, cast a dark shadow over those campaigning to stay in the European Union in the 23^rd June referendum. Inflicting himself on the Britain Stronger in Europe group, he spoke at every opportunity – reminding even the most passionate Europhile of the last time he assured: “I know I’m right” – Iraq.

If the “Remainers” had an ounce of sense Blair should have been ditched in a nano-second. He is not “Toxic Tony” for nothing. However, since the long awaited Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq invasion is to be published just thirteen days after the referendum (6^th July) it is worth revisiting more of the mistruths of which Blair is culpable.

On 18^th March 2003, Blair stood in Parliament and listed the times Saddam Hussein’s government had said they had no weapons of mass destruction (1) dismissing them all, including the 11,800 pages (or 12,200 pages) accounting that demonstrated they did not possess such weapons that had been delivered by the Iraqi delegation to the UN to the UN UNSCOM offices on 8^th December 2002.

Lest it be forgotten, the reason for the uncertainty regarding the length of the volume is that the US delegation simply appropriated it and returned it with 4,000 pages so heavily redacted as to be indecipherable. They also removed  the hefty index at the back listing the Western arms companies who had, prior to the first Gulf war, sold Iraq weapons.

Blair told Parliament loftily: “ … the 8th December declaration is false. That in itself is a material breach. Iraq has made some concessions to co-operation but no-one disputes it is not fully cooperating. Iraq continues to deny it has any WMD, though no serious intelligence service anywhere in the world believes them … We … will back it with action if Saddam fails to disarm voluntarily.” Iraq of course, was telling the truth. Blair had appointed himself  Judge, jury and executioner.

And here is a real whopper: “I have never put our justification for action as regime change.”

And another:

“Iraq is a wealthy country that in 1978, the year before Saddam seized power, was richer than Portugal or Malaysia.” … “Today it is impoverished, 60% of its population dependent on food aid.” … “Thousands of children die needlessly every year from lack of food and medicine.”

What he omitted was stated in a piece I wrote back in 1998 (2) addressing the ever repeated propaganda. The conditions were caused directly by the US-UK driven embargo, overseen by Blair’s envoy to the UN, Carne Ross, who headed the Sanctions Committee after the August 1991 imposed embargo:

“In 1989 the World Health Organization recorded Iraq as having 92-per-cent access to clean water, 93-per-cent access to high quality health care and with high educational and nutritional standards.

“By 1995 the World Food Program noted that: ‘time is running out for the children of Iraq’. Figures – verified by UNICEF – record that 1,211,285 children died of embargo-related causes between August 1990 and August 1997. A silent holocaust in the name of the UN. These numbers are similar to those lost in Pol Pot’s genocide in Cambodia. It is three times the population of Kuwait in small lives.”

‘ “After 24 years in the field, starting with Biafra, I didn’t think anything could shock me,” wrote Dieter Hannusch of the World Food Program in l995. “But this was comparable to the worst scenarios I had ever seen.” ‘

The day after Blair’s address to Parliament, Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL, quickly changed to Operation Iraqi Freedom) began, to which he had committed the country in his visit to George W. Bush’s Texas ranch in April 2002, without telling Parliament.

Moreover, in 2009 The Mail on Sunday disclosed (3) that: “Attorney General Lord Goldsmith wrote (a) letter to Mr. Blair in July 2002 – a full eight months before the war – telling him that deposing Saddam Hussein was a blatant breach of international law.

“It was intended to make Mr. Blair call off the invasion, but he ignored it. Instead, a panicking Mr. Blair issued instructions to gag Lord Goldsmith, banned him from attending Cabinet meetings and ordered a cover-up to stop the public finding out.

“He even concealed the bombshell information from his own Cabinet, fearing it would spark an anti-war revolt. The only people he told were a handful of cronies who were sworn to secrecy.

“Lord Goldsmith was so furious at his treatment he threatened to resign – and lost three stone as Mr Blair and his cronies bullied him into backing down.”

The then Prime Minister did not alone ignore the Attorney General’s legal advice. In November 2002 “six wise men” gave Blair “bloody warnings” as to the outcome of an attack on Iraq. (4) They were: “ … all academics, expert on Iraq, the Middle East and international affairs. They had been called to the Cabinet Room to outline the worst that could happen if Britain and the United States launched an invasion.

“This was a meeting that could have changed the course of history and, with better planning for the aftermath, saved countless lives – if only the Prime Minister and his advisers had listened and acted on the bloody warnings on that day in November 2002.”

Dr. Toby Dodge, then of London’s Queen Mary University, foresaw with extraordinary clarity the near certain outcome, giving the warning: ‘… that Iraqis would fight for their country against the invaders rather than just celebrate the fall of their leader. A long and nasty civil war could follow. “My aim that day was to tell them as much as I could, so that there would be no excuses and nobody saying, ‘I didn’t know.’ ”

Others who shared their extensive expertise were Professor George Joffe of Cambridge University, Sir Lawrence Freedman, Professor of War Studies at King’s College, London and a Blair adviser, Professor Charles Tripp of the School of Oriental and Asian Studies, Steven Simon, Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and Professor Michael Clarke, then of Kings College, London. Before the gathering they were warned: “Don’t tell him not to do it. He has already made up his mind”, Dr. Dodge told The Independent.

Blair and his Cabinet had: “… no plan for what would happen after the invasion. The approach was, ‘The Americans are heading this up. They will have a detailed plan. We need to follow them’ ”, said Professor Joffe. However in reality, a year’s planning by the State Department for the invasion’s aftermath: “was junked. They were making up policy on the hoof.”

Professor Joffe also explained the complexities of Iraq’s power structures with Tony Blair seemingly disinterested in the potential cultural, societal and political minefields, responding with kindergarten simplicity (re Saddam Hussein) “But the man is evil isn’t he?”

Blair took on a chameleon-like absorption of George W. Bush, his political circle and his Generals’ simplistic “good guys”, “bad guys” rhetoric.

Steven Simon had little faith in bringing democracy to Iraq at the barrels of guns and deliveries of 30,000-pound bunker busters: “If everything had been done differently, there might have been some small shot at avoiding disaster. But only a small shot.”

Incredibly, according to Professor Joffe: “The people who were put in charge in Iraq had very little knowledge or experience of the Middle East.”

Professor Clarke commented that Blair’s attempt to justify the invasion was mistaken: “We knew there was no nuclear stuff in Iraq.” Moreover, he believed: ‘Blair did not actually decide to go to war on the basis of intelligence, but made it look as if he had with his two “dodgy” dossiers. “He presented the case to the public as if they had incontrovertible evidence that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. That was rubbish. They were ridiculous documents, both those documents.” ‘ (Emphasis added.)

Late last year, Blair made what was described as a “qualified apology” for “mistakes” made in Iraq – among them: “our mistake in our understanding of what would happen once you removed the regime”. In the light of the above, blatantly untrue.

Blair’s dodging and weaving over the years since 2003 – in spite of his millions, numerous properties, jet (seemingly leased) and a yacht, accrued from advising some of the world’s most despotic leaders – seems to have worn him down a bit, though.

In an extraordinary television outburst (5) attacking Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbyn who said of Blair on BBC’s Newsnight last August: “If he has committed a war crime, yes (he should stand trial.)  Everybody who has committed a war crime should.” Blair responded: “I’m accused of being a war criminal for removing Saddam Hussein  … and yet Jeremy is seen as a progressive icon as we stand by and watch the people of Syria barrel-bombed, beaten and starved into submission and do nothing.”

No mention of the US’ illegal “coalition”  – which includes the UK – which has made 4,024 strikes to 1^st June this year, according to the US Department of Defence. Those strikes being remarkably inept at affecting the countless foreign terrorist groups, but which have caused devastation to the Syrian people whose plight was caused by US plotting (6.)

 

 

46,615 bombs and missiles have been dropped Syria and Iraq in the seeming non-fight against ISIS and other criminal groups. (airwars.org)

Apart from his ongoing economy with the truth, Tony Blair also seems to be well past his sell by date. In Northern Ireland, probably the only place on earth which has a tenuous reason to give him some credit for the “peace process”, where he went to speak on the referendum at Ulster University, he was less than welcome.

Derry anti-war campaigner Frankie McMenamin said the former Labour leader was “not welcome” in Derry, telling the Derry Journal:

“I was involved in protests about the Iraqi War which Tony Blair was responsible for, Tony Blair is hated throughout the world and he has blood on his hands over Iraq.

“I will be voting for the U.K. to remain on June 23rd but I think someone like Mr. Blair (urging the stay in vote) will put a lot of other people off.

“Tony Blair is not welcome in our city and the people who organized this visit obviously knew this” – the meeting had not been publicly advertised and the address was to a specially selected audience. The co-speaker was Blair’s former Chancellor, Gordon Brown, near equally unpopular, who wrote the cheques for years of UK bombings before the invasion and then for the invasion’s destruction. Had the meeting been publicly advertised, assured Mr McMenamin, protesters would have been out in force.

On 17^th June, Blair was a signatory to an open letter, signed by two former deputy Prime Ministers and a number of MPs and public figures urging voters to stay in the European Union. It included the words:

“ … public life, whether in politics or elsewhere, should be about something else – something better.

“It should be driven by a desire to bring people together when it would be easier to tear them apart. A wish to build bridges rather than erect walls.” To promote that which is “Peaceful, tolerant, compassionate.”

As he added his signature, did he reflect on Iraq’s destroyed bridges – literally and metaphorically, on a nation of walls erected by US and UK troops over one of the most open landscapes anywhere, and on the accompanying destruction of peace, tolerance and compassion at the hands of US and UK policies aided by his ignorant determination and “ridiculous documents.”

Philippe Sands QC, Professor of international law and Director of the Centre on International Courts and Tribunals at University College London, has said (7) ‘he believes, unequivocally, that the 2003 invasion was illegal under international law. “In the UK, beyond those associated with the government’s effort, I cannot think of a single international lawyer who thinks the war was lawful. Not a single name comes to mind. That’s got to be telling.” ‘

It can only be hoped the Chilcot Inquiry’s findings deliver Charles Anthony Lynton Blair and his cohorts a sharp, chilly return to reality for their part in a tragedy which will be his and George W. Bush’s place of infamy in history.

As this is finished, against the odds, the referendum is announced lost, the UK is out of the EU, the financial markets and the pound have plummeted and Prime Minister Cameron has announced his resignation. It will probably never be known to what – if any – extent Blair’s reviled presence changed “stay” voters to “leave.”

1. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/mar/18/foreignpolicy.iraq1
2. https://newint.org/features/1998/01/05/iraq/

3. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1231746/Secret-letter-reveal-new-Blair-war-lies.html

4. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/iraq-invasion-2003-the-bloody-warnings-six-wise-men-gave-to-tony-blair-as-he-prepared-to-launch-10000839.html
5. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tony-blair-jeremy-corbyn-syria-war-criminal-chilcot-inquiry-a7070761.html

6. http://www.globalresearch.ca/syria-and-conspiracy-theories-it-is-a-conspiracy/29596

7. http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/02/iraq-war-invasion-blair-regime

 

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Felicity Arbuthnot

Warrior for Peace and Justice

“It’s really 19^th century behavior in the 21^st century. You don’t just invade another country on phony pretexts in order to assert your interests.” (John Kerry, “Meet the Press, 2^nd March 2014.)

If “a week is a long time in politics”, a quote attributed to British Prime Minister Harold Wilson (1964-1970 and 1974-1976) under David Cameron’s tenure – a man who has been kicked into myriad U-turns over feckless, reckless decisions  – a day is an age.

On 3^rd June it was announced the summary of the long awaited Iraq Inquiry (Nov 24^th 2009 to 2^nd Feb 2011) Chaired by Sir John Chilcot is to be finally released on 6^th July and to be given free to the families of the Iraq invasion’s 179 British victims. The summary costs £30, the hard copy of the full 2.6 million word Report a staggering £767. The families would have to foot the bill for the latter themselves.

The Inquiry has cost the British taxpayers £ ten million, with Sir John Chilcot during his various and complex work since, garnering £790 a day, also courtesy of the taxpayer.

As the Independent points out (3^rd June 2016): “The process of drawing up the final Report has been beset by years of delays. The most recent substantial delay came during the so-called ‘Maxwellisation’ process where people criticised in the report are given an opportunity to respond.”

A mind bending concession to alleged war criminals.

Whilst: ‘A spokesperson for the Inquiry said the free summary given to the families of the war’s British victims would be “substantial” ‘ (Independent, 3^rd June) to those whose sons and daughters lives were sacrificed for a swathe of mistruths, mega-incompetence and alleged illegalities, only every word, line, chapter and verse of the Report will do.

Also, the summary would only go to immediate families, not relatives.

Yes, the Report will be on line, but for those wishing to study in depth, hard copies are vital. And what would it cost even in ink cartriges and paper to download twelve volumes?

The bereaved families responded with fury, demanding that Tony Blair pay for their copies. For a man who has made up to to an estimated £ hundred million, the gesture of a mere £137,293 – the cost of 179 copies – to those who have given their children for his assertions of Saddam Hussein’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction which could strike the West in forty five minutes etc., would be a minimal price to pay. It would be small change in Blair-land.

Perhaps he could sign each one, with a dedication. It would surely read something like:

“Within these volumes you will find all my justifications for involving our great country in the invasion of Iraq. I took the view, which I still passionately believe, as I said at the time on national television ‘it was the right thing to do’, morally and legally. In making you this gift of the Report I would like to say that I am truly sorry for your loss.

“Our great country is indebted through the sacrifice of your child who, by obeying orders and upholding my deeply held conviction that the Middle East would be a better place, which of course is the case. I also take the view that there was no need for any Inquiry or shameful pointing of fingers at myself or my government, intelligence agencies or military.

As my friend Madeleine Albright expressed so eloquently some years ago, there are times when the lives of the children of others are ‘a hard choice … but the price is worth it.’ As I said on television just prior to the invasion ‘I know I’m right.’ I still do. May my words be of some comfort to you in your grief.”

However, back to reality. Rose Gentle whose nineteen year old son Gordon was killed in Basra said of the denial of the full Report: “It’s disgusting …  Why should we have to pay – have we not paid enough times with the lives of our sons? The families should get a free copy of this, we have paid the cost with their deaths …” (The Guardian, 3^rd June 2016.)

Roger Bacon, whose son Major Matthew Bacon was killed in 2005 said: “ … we have already paid with our children’s lives.”

Emily Thornberry, the Shadow Defence Secretary, stated that it was “grotesque and offensive” that families should be asked to pay to read the findings. Indeed.

“In respect of those who died in Iraq, they have suffered first the terrible loss of their loved ones, then the lengthy delay for an Inquiry to be launched, then the even lengthier delay for that report to be published. Do not now add insult to these already grievous injuries by making them pay to read that Report.” (1)

Liberal Democrat Leader, Tim Farron wrote to the MoD demanding they give free copies to bereaved families on request:

“It is unbelievable that after all these years of waiting, of stalling and uncertainty, we now find out that the families will have to pay for a copy of the Report … Families who have waited years, mother and fathers who have fought to have this Report see the light of day, should not have to pay for this … The government now needs to provide some form of closure to the victims of this illegal war.” (Emphasis added.)

U-TURN.

By the end of the day on 3rd June, after the furore from cross party MPs, the families and the public, No 10 Downing Street put out a statement saying that there was: “ … no question of families of service personnel who died in Iraq having to pay for copies of the Chilcot Report”.

Better shamefully late, than never.

Yet in all this, no government, Ministry of Defence (MoD) or relevant official has mentioned the disabled, limbless, chronically ill, resultant from the invasion. They and their families are forgotten, invisible, not to even get the summary free. Reported casualties are 5,970, but the total figures have not been released by the MoD.

There are those who came back from this disaster built on a lie with no arms and no legs, brain damaged, others generally incapacitated by mega, but lesser limb loss and trauma.

“During the conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been reticent in publishing details of British casualties …” states Casualty Monitor (2) who also state: “… there are still serious problems with the accuracy and incompleteness of the information they release.”

In other words the MoD, to use Sir Robert Armstrong’s memorable quote to an Australian Court in 1986, is “economical with the truth.”

Moreover, numbers of Field Hospital admissions and the very seriously injured requiring Aero-medical evacuations were simply not available from the MoD during 2003, 2004 and 2005. See last chart at (2.)

In a further venture in to fantasy land, the probably two million Iraqi families bereaved between the embargo and the invasion surely deserve a copy – courtesy Mr “I know I’m right” Blair.

 

Meanwhile in Iraq, Bush and Blair’s body count continues thirteen years and 5 weeks after “Mission accomplished”, declared on USS Abraham Lincoln, 1^st May 2003, by George W. Bush. According to the United Nations at least 741 Iraqis, including more than 400 civilians, were killed and 1,374 wounded in April this year alone, due to the ongoing violence – a monthly nightmare which in pre-invasion Iraq was unthinkable.

However, back to the Iraq Report as an astute Facebook friend commented:

“To those looking forward to reading the Chilcot report, the one paid for by your taxes, I hope you have saved your pennies up. Classic British Government. You might have paid for it once but you have to pay for it a few more times before you can actually have it.”

Another commented: “Only Tony Blair will be able to afford it.”

Further input redundant.

1. http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/03/chilcot-report-iraq-war-soldiers-families-free-copy-david-cameron-intervenes
2. http://www.casualty-monitor.org/p/iraq.html

With thanks to writer Lesley Docksey for inspired angle for Tony Blair’s “apology.”

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