The Iraq Inquiry - Chilcott's Circus Clowns Come to Town

[Jan Klimkowski]

The only slightly not simple question I saw posed to Blair today was when Chilicot said "You went to war based on Iraq's non-compliance with weapons insepctions while at the same time Hans Blix was not saying they were uncompliant."

The audio died at the beginning of the feed via BBC World for about 30 seconds. It seemed intentional. The coverage had the message "One-minute delay" rather than "Live." The general impression was that the whole dialogue was rehearsed beforehand.

I have not seen a full transcript yet. With that caveat, the bits I heard on the radio as I was driving today appeared to be a complete farce, a travesty.

Much of the "questioning" seemed to consist of "Inquiry" members summarizing a chronology and then asking Blair whether he agreed with their summary. What a joke.

Here are some initial observations:

Tony Blair told the inquiry he believed Saddam Hussein was a "monster" before 9/11 but accepted that he would have to make the best of the situation.

At his first meeting with George Bush, in February 2001, Blair discussed Iraq. But it was in the context of trying to get a better sanctions regime. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, this view changed dramatically.

"I would fairly describe our policy up to September 11 as doing our best ... but with a different calculus of risk assessment ... The crucial thing after September 11 was that the calculus of risk changed."

Blair said that in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, he firmly believed that he could not run the risk that Saddam would reconstitute his banned weapons programmes. "The decision I took – and frankly would take again – was if there was any possibility that he could develop weapons of mass destruction [WMD] we should stop him. That was my view then and that is my view now."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/...key-points

Did the so-called Iraq Inquiry ask Blair what Saddam had to do with 9/11?

Did they ask him whether there was any link between Saddam and Al-Qaeda prior to 9/11?

Did they ask him whether WMD were used during 9/11?

I don't believe so. (NB again I haven't seen a full transcript yet.)

He accepted that the September 2002 dossier should have made clear that the now-notorious claim that Iraq had WMD that could be launched in 45 minutes referred to battlefield weapons and not long-range missiles. "It would have been better to have corrected it in the light of the significance it later took on," he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/...key-points

Did the so-called Iraq Inquiry push him on why he didn't correct the false 45-minute claim at the time?

Did they ask him whether this WMD claim referred to chemical weapons rather than nuclear and biological weapons?

Did they ask him who provided Saddam with the precursors needed for chemical weapons?

Did they ask him whether chemical weapons constituted WMD as commonly understood?

I don't believe so. (NB again I haven't seen a full transcript yet.)

Politicians, especially government ministers, will routinely insist on corrections of what they consider to be factual misinterpretations by the media. Blair and Campbell's refusal to ask for a correction of the 45-minute claim reveals their true, insidious, corrupt, intention.