Tony Blair Iraq Inquiry

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A good question could be would I have invaded Iraq if I had been the PM at the time?

Well I was not the PM at the time but first I would have explored all possible means of finding an effective solution with out a war. With technology and intelligence there are many ways that a satisfactory result could have been achieved with out such a loss of life.

If I had sadly come to the belief that there was absolutely no other way I would have to be totally satisfied that what ever we were planning was not in anyway considered to be against international law.

Then any caring Goverment would need to make sure that all the necessary planning and preparation had been carried out before committing troops to war.

Clearly careful thinking would mean that you would need a war budget from the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Simply because we were entering unknown teritory and we would not know how long we would be committed for and at what cost as there was plenty of time to budget properly.

Rather strangely the then Chancellor of the Exchequer doesn't seem to have either been kept informed or failed to find out what was happening. It could simply be that Blair in his Presidential style wanted to keep him as a mushroom in the dark and fed on manure.

Why wasn't the Chancellor of the Exchequer involved in financial preparation for a war surely a budget would be needed ?

This is a typical example of how the Labour government failed the Army and the public.

Before the Iraq enquiry on Friday 21st January 2011 Blair glibly stated that Margaret Thatcher did not have the Chancellor in her Falklands War cabinet. Clearly there can be no comparison as the Falklands was an immediate response to an invasion with no real time for drawing up a war budget and with no intention for a long drawn out compaign.

This underlines the point that Blair and the Labour government failed in their duty to protect the brave soldiers that they were committing to the invasion.

I can not set out in this article each and every failing of Labour's failed war, as that would take a few books, but some of the failings were:-

Lack of proper equipment and armoured vehicles suitable for the operating conditions. Not enough helicopters with winches suitable for air lifting wounded soldiers. Last but not least what was the exit plan or did Blair not have one or had he not even thought of one?

One very important point is that if one takes a country to war with out an exit plan then you are committing the brave British army and the tax payer to pay for your personal ego trip and your failed war.

Apart from equipment issues Blair should have listened ever so carefully to the late Robin Cook who resigned from the government on 17th March 2003. The words that he used to introduce his resignation speech in the House of Commons say a lot " I have chosen to address the House first on why I cannot support a war without international agreement or domestic support".

Some extracts from what he said are "The US can afford to go it alone, but Britain is not a superpower. Our interests are best protected not by unilateral action but by multilateral agreement and a world order governed by rules." that sounds like good policy to me.

Obviously Blair seems to have ignored some very sound advice and did not follow the rules.

Nearly 8 years since the invasion of Iraq Blair told the Chilcot enquiry "I regret deeply and profoundly the loss of life".

The tearful relatives of some of the 179 soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice shouted out "it's too late" turned away from Blair and marched out.

The Chilcot inquiry released details of a memo from Tony Blair in March 2002 a year before the invasion in which he demanded a more "gung ho" approach.

You have to ask who did he think he was Superman?

At the end of Blairs testimony on 21st January 2011 at the Chilcot inquiry he was approached by Reg Keys the father of Lance Cpl Tom Keys who died in Southern Iraq aged 20 in June 2003. He stated "I just wanted to say that you are a disgrace to your office".

Reg Keys stood in the 2005 Election as an anti-war independent candidate for MP of Sedgefield a seat which was held by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair.He gave a very good speech and challenged Blair to confirm how many of our brave soldiers had died in Iraq. Blair was somewhat embarrased as he had no idea.

In summary the conclusion has to be that one could never ever vote for Labour as they have lost the faith of the voter.

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