Chilcot report

[Ernest]

Blair still in denial which is the worst thing but wasn't just him, many others in Parliament were cheer leading for war and still do

 

[Hotchilidog]

To suggest Blair was responsible for this deception strikes me as believing our PM has authoritarian powers I just cannot believe actually exist. I find it a huge leap to suggest that in the corridors of power, the intelligence community, military, civil service etc. that Blair's lone presentation of this led an ignorant parliament to the decision to go to war.

This went far deeper than Tony Blair, or even George Bush. Blaming those two is a convenient veil of where power actually resides, something that is perhaps too frightening to contemplate.

Disagree they Bush (primarily) and Blair wanted this. They thought Saddam would be an easy target (they were right he was) and they could end up looking like the heroes defeating an evil tyrant. There would have been the added bonus of oil, lucrative rebuilding contracts etc, but essentially this was seen to be an easy way to exhaust post 9/11 angst. Sadly they totally misjudged the whole situation and did not have a clue what they were doing, as evidenced by the chaos the country is still in now.

This was a deliberate war of aggression against a country that posed no threat to the US or UK, it's as simple as that. Blair should be called to account, preferably in some sort of court.

if we want to point fingers at despots around the world then we have to hold ourselves to account too when decisions we make result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people (conservative estimate) and the displacement of millions from their homes. There is NO excuse for this.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Quote from Tony Smarm


'I will take full responsibility for any mistakes without exception or excuse. I will at the same time say why, nonetheless, I believe that it was better to remove Saddam Hussein and why I do not believe this is the cause of the terrorism we see today whether in the Middle East or elsewhere in the world.'

The man is an idiot. Virtually all our current evils associated with IS and the like are down to his actions and the last sentence is totally wrong.

So we now have a report that shows that a Labour government can't be relied on to keep peace.

We also know from successive Labour governments that they can't be relied on to keep the economy under control.

We also know from successive Labour governments that they can't be relied on to keep the NHS and Social Benefits system under control.


What can they keep under control?

Never ever should we elect that lot again........a message that seems to be finally sinking in to the electorate..

TNBA

TTF

You have to trace the hostilities of the Middle East and how we reached this point a lot further back than 1997. To turn the Middle East trouble into a Labour Party issue, is as daft as blaming the global financial crisis on them too.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Disagree they Bush (primarily) and Blair wanted this. They thought Saddam would be an easy target (they were right he was) and they could end up looking like the heroes defeating an evil tyrant. There would have been the added bonus of oil, lucrative rebuilding contracts etc, but essentially this was seen to be an easy way to exhaust post 9/11 angst. Sadly they totally misjudged the whole situation and did not have a clue what they were doing, as evidenced by the chaos the country is still in now.

This was a deliberate war of aggression against a country that posed no threat to the US or UK, it's as simple as that. Blair should be called to account, preferably in some sort of court.

if we want to point fingers at despots around the world then we have to hold ourselves to account too when decisions we make result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people (conservative estimate) and the displacement of millions from their homes. There is NO excuse for this.

Blair didn't have the power to get this through on his own. MPs from all sides voted 412 to 149 to authorise the war. That was 146 Conservative for, 2 against, Labour 254 for, 84 against, and all the 52 Lib Dems voted against. I find it chilling to suggest that 412 MPs were duped by Tony Blair, especially with such resounding support from the opposition at the time. Despite the Stop the War marches, public opinion was that we needed to go and 'sort Saddam out' and if the yanks were up for it, so we should be. Ultimately this was a parliamentary decision to stand with the US. The power behind this, especially in the US was deeply entrenched far beyond Bush's vanity.

The only way we could hold Blair to account is if it can be proved he knew the intelligence was false, and if he knew that, then a lot of other people did to. Even at the time, every MP knew the intelligence was flaky at best, but still they voted it through.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Blair still in denial which is the worst thing but wasn't just him, many others in Parliament were cheer leading for war and still do

Exactly. Far too many in this country were only too ready to go to war. MPs would know how reliable intelligence is, a huge swathe of the country knew how reliable it was as the inspectors hadn't found anything for years. I think it is a convenient truth that those in believed in the war and called for it can now hide behind a claim they were lied to.

 

[symyjym]

Statement from Tony Blair on Chilcot Report

http://www.tonyblairoffice.org/news/entry/statement-from-tony-blair-on-chilcot-report/

He says:

"I note that the report finds clearly:

- That there was no falsification or improper use of Intelligence (para 876 vol 4)

- No deception of Cabinet (para 953 vol 5)

- No secret commitment to war whether at Crawford Texas in April 2002 or elsewhere (para 572 onwards vol 1) "

He is still lying because the Chilcot inquiry summary contradicts all the above.

 

[Don Quixote]

Quote from Tony Smarm





'I will take full responsibility for any mistakes without exception or excuse. I will at the same time say why, nonetheless, I believe that it was better to remove Saddam Hussein and why I do not believe this is the cause of the terrorism we see today whether in the Middle East or elsewhere in the world.'



The man is an idiot. Virtually all our current evils associated with IS and the like are down to his actions and the last sentence is totally wrong.



So we now have a report that shows that a Labour government can't be relied on to keep peace.



We also know from successive Labour governments that they can't be relied on to keep the economy under control.



We also know from successive Labour governments that they can't be relied on to keep the NHS and Social Benefits system under control.





What can they keep under control?



Never ever should we elect that lot again........a message that seems to be finally sinking in to the electorate..



TNBA



TTF

Well if it would have just been labour mps the government would have lost the vote and there would have been no war. Your argument doesn't cut it.

 

[Ernest]

Campbell popped up now, another despicable figure

 

[Mellotron]

What we've learnt is: become really good mates with Murdoch, and you can basically do whatever you want with no consequences whatsoever.

 

[knocky1]

Is the warmonger from the Neville Pub,Hove, Mr Ivor Caplin in the report? He played his part and was later rewarded handsomely in the private sector with his expertise in world arms markets.

"Caplin was elected as Member of Parliament for Hove in 1997. In 1998 he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Margaret Beckett. After re-election in 2001 he became an Assistant Government Whip and then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Minister for Veterans at the Ministry of Defence. Following the invasion of Iraq in 2003 Caplin was the focus of anti-war protests mostly coordinated by "Hove Action for Peace". Large weekly protests were held outside his Constituency Surgery at Hove Town Hall over a few years. As a Whip and Junior Defence Minister many people in Brighton and Hove felt that he was directly complicit in the decision to go to war in Iraq. He gained a certain notoriety and was heavily criticised following his refusal to accept an anti-war petition presented to him from the people of Hove. He stood down from the House of Commons at the 2005 general election.

Caplin now runs his own company Ivor Caplin Consultancy Ltd. which has a number of clients including Foresight Communications, a political lobbying firm whose clients include EADS, EDS and Sodexho. He has recently founded a new company International Infrastructure Development Consultancy Ltd. which is specialising in advice and support for non EU Governments and the private sector overseas. With effect from August 2009 Caplin was appointed as Chief Executive of Mayfair Capital Management a private group of UK companies based in London with executive responsibility for the construction,energy and property divisions of the group."

 

[Lower West Stander]

Whilst Blair is a lying toerag, I wonder how a certain Mr Campbell feels?

David Kelly, Andrew Gilligan? hmmmm....

Whilst I cannot stand Blair, he was at least elected. Campbell was just a nasty unelected henchman

 

[East Preston Gull]

Whilst Blair is a lying toerag, I wonder how a certain Mr Campbell feels?

David Kelly, Andrew Gilligan? hmmmm....

Whilst I cannot stand Blair, he was at least elected. Campbell was just a nasty unelected henchman

This, odious man, just odious.

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

 

[Boy Blue]

I hope all the victims sue the vile disgusting dictator for hundreds of millions of pounds and bankrupt the vile odious man.

 

[East Preston Gull]

Oscar nominations closed now.
Despicable!

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

 

[nicko31]

Amazing no one ever mentions we were joining in the hunt for cheap oil that could extracted at USD10 / barrel

 

[Diablo]

It`s always easy with hindsight to judge...

 

[Ernest]

Is Blair about to burst into tears here ? Whatever he says can't justify what he and Bush did, millions of lives have been ruined for what ?

 

[Lower West Stander]

It`s always easy with hindsight to judge...

David Kelly?

 

[KZNSeagull]

Blair didn't have the power to get this through on his own. MPs from all sides voted 412 to 149 to authorise the war. That was 146 Conservative for, 2 against, Labour 254 for, 84 against, and all the 52 Lib Dems voted against. I find it chilling to suggest that 412 MPs were duped by Tony Blair, especially with such resounding support from the opposition at the time. Despite the Stop the War marches, public opinion was that we needed to go and 'sort Saddam out' and if the yanks were up for it, so we should be. Ultimately this was a parliamentary decision to stand with the US. The power behind this, especially in the US was deeply entrenched far beyond Bush's vanity.

The only way we could hold Blair to account is if it can be proved he knew the intelligence was false, and if he knew that, then a lot of other people did to. Even at the time, every MP knew the intelligence was flaky at best, but still they voted it through.

Doesn't it come down to the Prime Minister's position of trust? On an issue like this, when not all information is in the public domain, nor can it be shared with parliament as it is sensitive, most MP's would have trusted that the PM had a case. They were not to know that the cabinet had not questioned and scrutinised things properly and were generally incompetent.

Blair has to, and I see he now has, take full responsibility as he was in charge.

 

[Bold Seagull]

It`s always easy with hindsight to judge...

Well actually, that is the great irony of this enquiry. Over 1 million people marched to stop the war BECAUSE many didn't believe the dossier or intelligence at the time. Robin Cook resigned, the Lib Dems were steadfast, much of Labour was looking to rebel, Blair's crucial allies in getting the vote through was the war mongering conservatives who would have gone to war for the promise of a chocolate biscuit let alone a convincing dossier of WMDs. I remember clearly at the time, not in hindsight or reflection as I too marched, that it was clear we were in bed with the US, that we would present anything to back that up and justify a course of military action. The consequences of a power vacuum after Saddam's fall are evidenced throughout history, and again even at the time were easily envisaged.

The MPs that voted with the government to go to war ALL have blood on their hands. Tony Blair was PM, but it was clear to all that he was in the laps of the US. Either you were happy with that, or you weren't. There were loud enough dissenting doubts about the intelligence for MPs to have voted with a degree of knowledge about the course of action. Unless we had elected a Robin Cook or Charles Kennedy in 2001, then whoever was PM from the Tories or Labour would have taken us to war on the back of supporting the US. Too many are trying to hide behind this single piece of intelligence when a NO vote would have seen us not go to war and the resignation of the PM. Enough Labour MPs rebelled or abstained to have made this a reality, but there is no way the Tories were ever going to do anything but support going to war alongside the US.