Chilcott enquiry

This early response from Caroline Lucas says plenty. What I really want to know is the truth about the death of Dr David Kelly. It's important to know if we live in a society where this kind of apparent 'assassination' can take place.
www.carolinelucas.com/latest/chilcot-report-evidence-of-deception-and-illegality

There is a song called The Vicar of Bray, well that is the personality of Tony Blair, always clinging to the winning side. In Catholicism the believer is meant to examine their conscience, where is evidence of this. Then the high office of Special Envoy to Peace in the Middle East, other than being rewarded by his paymaster the US and Israel what did he do? He is nauseous, needs to be publicly shamed for the blood on all sides both our stoic armed forces and the Iraqi ordinary people. Hans Blixt tried his best to get more time but was publicly scorned, time to exonerate him.

Blair is a lawyer .

Coming so soon after nine eleven, I think the Americans saw getting rid of Saddam as a tangible way of demonstrating to the American people that they could "kick some ass", and I think Iraq was seen as a soft target, despite the intelligence being flawed. I don't think they even considered what they would do with the country if and when Saddam was deposed. They didn't have a plan. They haven't had a good track record in military conflict since WWII. Vietnam was an ugly fiasco in which they did not acquit themselves well. That Bush managed to drag us along on this fool's errand was entirely the fault of Blair and his cabinet IMO. As for our troops being ill equipped, the MOD have a poor track record in this. Equipment was inadequate in the Falklands. Boots, particularly, have always been a problem. Soldiers in the Kuwait conflict were purchasing their own dessert boots because there weren't enough available and in Iraq, standard green issue was being worn by many troops because there was not enough desert camouflage to go round (troops who only had greens we not allowed to meet the PM when he visited, apparently), but of course, most crucially, body armour, armoured vehicles and communications equipment were in dangerously short supply and to my mind it has to be considered to be a criminal act to send troops into war with inadequate protection. I listened to Blair on the radio this morning and I wanted to throw up.

Glammanann, thank goodness you got your boys back. As for Blair, I heard a man scared, stumbling on occasion, but not apologising. He is married to a lawyer and was very careful not to admit liability, he is trying to save his own skin, don't think he has the faintest idea just what he has done, he took responsibility for what the "Labour Government" had done, again deflecting his responsibility to the government. He is a traitor and a liar and I just wish their was some way we could help all the people suffering because of him. The money for this report could have helped so many affected if he had admitted his mistakes, he didn't care what it cost it he just delayed it as much as he could. I think he should have his assets taken off him, the big houses, the cars, his savings and help those he hurt. But he won't do that because money and power are his Gods.

I get tired of malicious words about Tony Blair. Yes he made mistakes, big ones, bad results because they were big decisions. He made them with the intention if preventing a 9/11 type incident here. Don't close your ears to the good things said about him. No he was not acting yesterday and he could hide away but doesn't........a 2 hour press conference. He has to live with it for the rest of his days. Vengeance rarely brings peace of mind.

Blair should go away now. He is still trying to run the Labour party from the sidelines.
I watched hours of it and it was very depressing. All the MPs that had voted for the war had their excuses ready. What a shame that Robin Cook didn't have a chance to respond. We should remember that he said at the time that he had seen all the evidence and documents that Blair had and that the case for war just wasn't there.
Blair is irredeemable now but his Messiah complex will never let him see it and unfortunately he is surrounded by people that pander to it.
I think all we can do is maybe find a charity that is trying to help the Iraqi victims of our invasion and make a donation and remember that the UK is now involved in the Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Hopefully the latter is just in reconstruction. Libya was left in a mess.

Both labour and Tory MP's voted for the war, some not all.

They won't hold Bush to account will they. What about the people in the Labour Party I can't remember if they all backed Blair at the time. ThoughtbBlair was going to be a really good prime minister well I got that wrong.

Yes Glammananna, so do I, sorry don't know why you thought I needed to be told this

Anniebach I'm of the opinion that taking responsibilty and showing remorse for his mistakes are two different things entirely but that is purely my own opinion.

The one good thing that can be said however, is that we had the Chilcot report at all.
I think there were quite a few countries involved initially in the ill advised Iraq War, and the UK is the only nation to have an enquiry about it.

Blair did not apologise Izabella

Blair said he took full responsibility Glammananna

Tony Blair should have an Oscar for that performance of an 'apology '

It was clear at the time that the UN were not backing Bush and Blair. I remember the evening of the Parliamentary vote quite clearly. We were emailing our MP and urging her to vote against Blair. Unfortunately someone had convinced her that by going along with Bush, Blair would be able to influence the Palestine situation for the better.
Bush wanted a war so that he could have a real rather than a theoretical "war on terror". It was being planned well in advance of Blair's decision.
A retired submariner ( *UK navy*) once told me that he had been at sea for a whole year before the invasion and that they knew the planned date of the invasion as soon as they sailed. And it was only out by one day. When people tell me stories like that I am always a little sceptical, but he was not someone with a reputation for being a fantasist, and the little detail about them being just one day out, gave it a ring of truth. So it seems entirely possible that the MOD was quietly preparing to some extent for over a year.

Unbelievable the lies this man can spin and show not the slightest responsibility for his actions,I am disgusted to see him being driven around in a bullet proof car and armed guards at his home,I know old Prime Ministers have security but this is way over the top and a further burden to us as tax payers.I will never forgive him for sending my boys to such a horrible horrible place but it was their job and their decision and thank God they came home as some of their friends where less fortunate.

Like many people, I'd wondered if Chilcot would sanitise or minimise the extent of deception and exaggeration by Blair, or the absence of proper equipment for our groups. I'm struggling to find the words to express my feelings in response to the report but grateful comes close.

Opposition to the war by members of the public was huge, the demonstration in London remains the biggest demo ever seen there. There were huge demonstrations in so many of our cities and elsewhere. How could so many of us be right and our MP's so wrong. I remember watching TB claiming Saddam posed a present threat, could attack us within 45 minutes and feeling incredulous but also wondering if I was wrong because TB spoke so powerfully and with such certainty.

Watching his performance yesterday was nauseating. What a narcissist, the occasional tear and expression of sorrow for the loss of life but no apology. I haven't listened to Jeremy Corby's speech in full but it seems likely that he will have confirmed his position as labour leader with his supporters, as well as improving the way he's viewed by many. This is a genuine comment incidentally.

How can you live with your yourself with so much blood on your hands. A whole Nation of people are and have lived through unimaginable hell. Those families who lost sons and daughters for an unjust war, knowing their child was sent into battle, ill equipped without even proper shoes some of them, what a waste. It doesn't bare thinking about and I applaud those families for not giving up in their fight for the truth to come out Blair and Bush, should be held account, like Saddam was. The Chicot report took too long coming, but it's covered everything at least. Granny 23, what could the man in the street have done, we were all fed lies, any challenges made against the government stone walled, look how long it has taken for the truth to come out.

He hasn't even got the guts to say, with hindsight, it was the wrong decision. Nether has Jack Straw. Both too busy covering their backs in the light of possible private prosecutions.

It has ruined Tony Blair's reputation and will be all we remember him for. He has aged so much hasn't he?
Obviously the hundreds of thousands of lives lost and the complete destabilisation of that part of the world are the worse legacy , for which he should be brought to trial.

Only read this if you have a strong stomach

bellacaledonia.org.uk/2016/07/06/sanitising-the-iraq-war/

Somehow reiterating that this was done "Not in My Name" feels like a totally inadequate response. We were on holiday in the Canaries when the big anti-war marches were taking place in London, Glasgow etc. We were surprised to find that there was one in our holiday town and pleased that we were able to join in there. With hindsight, wish I'd done more but what???

The mother of a 19 year old soldier was asked if she felt her daughters death was for a justifiable reason? She just shook her head and whispered 'No'. WW11, was bad enough, but at least it was for a proper reason. (shakes head in disbelief)

How he can still say that Iraq and the Middle East is better off for getting rid of Sadam Hussein beats me. It's estimated that 250,000 people were killed in the invasion and its aftermath, and the misery is never-ending. Only a few days ago 200+ people were killed and several hundred were injured by suicide bombers in Iraq. Does he really believe that the invasion of Iraq did not bring about the massive destabilisation that has occurred since then?

His assurance to Bush that "I will be with you, whatever" surely says it all.

TB is a war criminal. He lied to the House of Commons and prevented the Attorney General from explaining to the Cabinet why the war would be illegal.

He wrote George Bush a private letter saying that no matter what the UK would support the USA.

Even when he talked about how bad Saddam Hussain was (and no one argues with that) he failed to mention that the USA had helped him take power in order to protect US interests against Iran.

Blair was a war monger. Our troops and the Iraqis paid the price at the time and since the rise of ISIS (a direct result of the war in Iraq) we are all paying the price by living in a far more dangerous world.