The Chilcot microscope

The decision by the United States, the United Kingdom and their allies to invade Iraq in 2003 has consequences that 13 years later are still incalculable, and are likely to reverberate for generations to come. The long-awaited Chilcot report into the run-up to the war and UK government policy decisions made relating to the Iraq conflict up until 2009 has now been released and it makes chilling reading. There was a widespread expectation that the report would be a whitewash, an establishment cover-up. It is anything but. The Chilcot report names names, and does not only point the finger but nails the blame squarely and foremost on the leaders of the two countries at the time — George W Bush and Tony Blair.

Chilcot lays out in forensic detail the nature of the relationship between Blair and Bush, the bypassing of cabinet and parliament, the lack of preparedness militarily, copious and serial advice from intelligence agencies that was flawed or misleading (and went unchallenged). War was not the only option at the time and the peace process was not exhausted, there were no “weapons of mass destruction”, planning for the aftermath of war was either absent or wholly inadequate and the legal basis for going to war had not been satisfactorily made when the ‘go’ button was pushed. The 2003 war in Iraq unleashed a storm of bloody consequences that leave a trail of dead and injured around the world every day, and not only in the Middle East. Horrific as the Chilcot findings are the report itself is to be praised as an example of diligence and accountability almost like no other in modern times. No similar exercise has been carried out in the US and President Obama made it clear than none would be soon after he came to office. Above all Chilcot highlights the weakness of governance, the lack of connectivity and just how easy it is to circumvent the great offices of state — and get away with lying to a nation. The great British public, hugely sceptical at the time of the invasion, are roundly vindicated. The dead have no voice but would be condemnatory of both Bush and Blair if they did. RIP.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2016.

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