Iraq Chilcot Inquiry debate, June 24 09, Clair Short speech (part 2)

[ChrisEdwards2004]

Witnesses at hhe Chilcot "inquiry" are not under any form of legally binding oath--no threat of perjury. No barristers will be present to interrogate the witnesses forensically. The Inquiry panel includes a historian, Gilbert, who has publicly compared Bush and Bllair with Roosevelt and Churchill. The chair was a member of a previous Iraq inquiry (Butler) which was a whitewash. Another member of the panel was instrumental into trying to secure a second UN resolution to legitimise the Iraq war.

[alphabetaxenonzzzcat]

A shame she stayed in the cabinet for two months after the decision to go to war!

[Prunesqualer]

I wouldn't be too hard on Clair Short. It has now been firmly established that Blair played fast and loose with the flow of information, even to his own cabinet (eg withholding advice on the legality of our invasion).

I also think Mrs Short over-estimated her ability to make a difference to Iraq's reconstruction from within the UK government.

Disastrously, as it turned out, the real power in this field had allready been handed to the pentagon.

[Redcarpet01]

Great public service, Ms. Short!