Tri-Service
Comment: Chilcot And The Blair Blame Game
Article by Christopher Lee, Defence Analyst
The Chilcot Report on why the UK went to an illegal war with Iraq in 2003, and who was responsible for such an act before the war, during the war and after the event is due to be published in London on July 6th.
Chilcot is one of the most important Whitehall documents thus far this century. It tells us how we went to a war that still rages because the US-led coalition did not know how to fight such a conflict, did not understand what it was fighting and did not make plans to bring the defeated country to peace.
From the UK position, such an event and such a comprehensive study is likely to be reduced to nothing more gutter press editing that has one purpose: Hanging Tony Blair out to dry. Blair is the villain and a war criminal say his opponents.
It matters not that everything that has been said publicly about Tony Blair has already been said. Chilcot will not say anything new.
But so stained is Blair's reputation that the shabby intellectualism that modern Britain has become will simply throw recycled blame on the same figure.
It is certainly true that much of the British public did not want to go to war. Public opinion was ignored by Blair. He talked up false information, most noticeably that Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction against the West inside 45 minutes.
This was untrue. But it was the crucial false evidence that forced the government lawyers to declare that on balance there should be war, whereas until that lie - and it was that - the Attorney's view was the war was probably illegal without a second UN Resolution of authority.
So Britain went to war illegally. Most in Whitehall knew that.
As for the weapons of mass destruction, they did not exist. They were weapons of mass disappearance.
There was not a single weapon found. But still we did not understand. Blair went to war because, as he said, "Saddam is a nasty man".
But Chilcot is 2.7million words. Very little is about Blair. It shows the incompetence of British high military command.
The generals got it wrong, they made bad decisions. MI6 got it wrong. The Joint Intelligence Committee not only got it wrong but took part in producing a document of lies that was used as evidence of threat and therefore a reason for war.
The lawyers got it right then backed down. The Foreign Office leadership supported the Prime Minister instead of the truth.
There remains a terrible reflection of British society at the highest levels: Literally hundred of people were at fault either by omission or commission. But the spotlight of blame lands on Blair.
The departments, ambitions, incompetencies and worse still the lies that took the UK into a war - that even George W. Bush was not fussed if we went or not - all for the vanity of chance are listed and castigated true enough and thus Chilcot must be praised.
Chilcot will tell the truth about the others but the editors will write GUILTY BLAIR because they have never forgiven him, not for the war but for being Tony Blair.
Forces TV will have full coverage of the publication of the Chilcot Report on the 6th of July. Join us on TV (see below for details) or watch via Facebook.
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