Will there be a public inquiry on Iraq?

sunderkatwala Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 09:59:57 AM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

The Independent reports that the government has "backtracked over demands for an independent inquiry into the mistakes made in the run-up to and aftermath of the invasion of Iraq", based on David Miliband's interview in the new year Fabian Review.



The Independent reports that the government has "backtracked over demands for an independent inquiry into the mistakes made in the run-up to and aftermath of the invasion of Iraq". This is based on an interview with David Miliband in the new year issue of the Fabian Review. Asked by my colleague Tom Hampson about the case for a public inquiry, the Foreign Secretary said: "I am obsessed with the next five years in Iraq, not the last five years in Iraq. And I think that the best 'inquiry' is putting the best brains to think about how to make sure the next five years in Iraq get that combination of political reconstruction, economic reconstruction and security improvement that are so essential." That is, indeed, quite a bit cooler than previous Ministerial comments about the possibility of a public inquiry. But I think is too early to say "Government rules out inquiry into Iraq conflict" (which is the headline, rather than the report itself). The issue remains open. The case for an inquiry will continue, within and outside government. Should there be a public inquiry? Independent story http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article3284885.ece More on this, including my case for a public inquiry http://worldafterbush.blogspot.com/2007/12/will-there-be-public-inquiry-on-iraq.html

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Will there be a public inquiry on Iraq? | 15 comments (15 topical)

Re: Will there be a public inquiry on Iraq? (#1)

by swatantra on Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 10:51:37 AM GMT

In the case of Iraq there is no need for a Public Enquiry at enormous expense to usall. We all know what the mistakes were. They will not happen again.


Re: Will there be a public inquiry on Iraq? (#2)

by swatantra on Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 10:56:26 AM GMT

Foreign wars will never again be left to the PM, but Parliament will decide, and the evidence to go to war will be on more reliable evidence and in cosultation with our European allies; and the pre and post war plannig will be in more detail; and most crucial, whether the country can afford to go to war.


[ Parent ]

Re: Will there be a public inquiry on Iraq? (#12)

by maha on Fri Dec 28, 2007 at 12:54:17 PM GMT

There weren't any mistakes in this government's decision to invade Iraq. The destruction and take over of Iraq has been carefully planned and executed. People in the West live in a fantasy world of government controlled and filtered mass media lies cooked up daily for their consumption. The massive criminality of the Labour Party cannot be excused or covered up.

Just one example of the criminality of the Labour regime -- Omar Sheikh, an LSE graduate, who works for British Intelligence, apparantly murdered Osama bin Laden, according Benizer Bhutto on 02/11/07 (this is why she has been assassinated by MI6), yet the government controlled media is silent on their favourite boogeyman's death. The AlQaida ghost is everywhere apparantly and always in places where this country wants to invade, what a coincidence.


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Re: Will there be a public inquiry on Iraq? (#15)

by swatantra on Fri Dec 28, 2007 at 01:26:58 PM GMT

I hope you are able to distinguish between the Labour Party and the Labour Govt. Only a few individuals in the Govt were in the know about the true situation in Iraq, and they were being advised by the Sercurity Services. So the fault lies with them. As for the demise of Bin Laden, thats mere speculation and the involvement
of MI6 in Mrs Bhutto's death and Diana, Princess of Wales death even more of a speculation.


[ Parent ]

Re: Will there be a public inquiry on Iraq? (#3)

by HOWLERMONKEY on Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 02:37:25 PM GMT

It would be utterly pointless.


No there shouldn't be (#4)

by JoeRoberts on Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 04:51:13 PM GMT

I really can't see what the point would be of an inquiry. There has been a debate going on in the party, in the media and in the country for the last five years. Everyone has heard the arguments hundreds of times and everyone knows where they stand.


Those who are demanding an inquiry are those who were against the war all along. If an inquiry gives them the verdict they want, they will claim they have been vindicated; if it doesn't, it will be like the Hutton Enquiry where anyone whose pre-judged views didn't match Lord Hutton's considered opinion just screamed that it was all an establishment whitewash.


Milliband is absolutely right, the priority must be improviing the situation in Iraq now rather than looking back to 2003. We have a real 'inquiry culture' in Britain. You can't live your life in the rear view mirror. It is time to move on.


Re: No there shouldn't be (#5)

by swatantra on Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 07:07:58 PM GMT

Where Milliband is wrong is '5 years'. You must be joking David. we must cut loose and be out of Iraq within a year, and Afghanistan, and leave them to it. We have no right to get involved in their civil wars; one faction is just as bad as the other.


[ Parent ]

Re: No there shouldn't be (#13)

by maha on Fri Dec 28, 2007 at 01:04:39 PM GMT

The question to ask yourself is:
Would you want an inquiry if you were attacked or murdered and your home robbed and bombed?

The trouble with people living in the west, like you, is they tend to see people in other lands with darker skin and a different culture as somehow lesser beings, less deserving of justice. To overcome this tendency try imagining our country being bombed to smitherines, occupied and dictated to by a foreign invader. Would you want justice? Or would you shrug your shoulders and say: these invaders know best, they torture and murder us, but that's fine...?


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Re: No there shouldn't be (#14)

by swatantra on Fri Dec 28, 2007 at 01:20:38 PM GMT

Then thats for a responsible Iraqi Govt to pursue an enquiry, by them on their soil. Or for them to refer the case to the International Court. But for Britain, its a pointless exercise. We know what went wrong and who was responsible. The Iraqi's, by refering the matter of invasion, they weren't invited, onto Iraqi soil to an International Court would be within their rights to seek reparations of billions of £ and $ for the suffering caused.


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Re: Will there be a public inquiry on Iraq? (#6)

by Limony on Thu Dec 27, 2007 at 02:12:34 AM GMT

Why are we even commenting on stuff from the Independent? What exactly is its relationship to news?


Re: Will there be a public inquiry on Iraq? (#7)

by JoeRoberts on Thu Dec 27, 2007 at 06:42:21 AM GMT

The Independent is like a version of the Daily Mail for liberal upper-middle class people. Like the Mail, it is more interested in pandering to the prejudices of its readership, and telling us that we are all going to hell in a handcart, than in reporting news.


[ Parent ]

Re: Will there be a public inquiry on Iraq? (#8)

by JoeRoberts on Thu Dec 27, 2007 at 06:42:24 AM GMT

The Independent is like a version of the Daily Mail for liberal upper-middle class people. Like the Mail, it is more interested in pandering to the prejudices of its readership, and telling us that we are all going to hell in a handcart, than in reporting news.


[ Parent ]

Re: Will there be a public inquiry on Iraq? (#9)

by swatantra on Thu Dec 27, 2007 at 12:08:10 PM GMT

The Indie always comes up with amazingly strange front page headlines, quite out of kilter with the rest of Fleet Street, and lives up to its name.


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Re: Will there be a public inquiry on Iraq? (#10)

by rwendland on Thu Dec 27, 2007 at 01:50:50 PM GMT

> Why are we even commenting on stuff from the Independent?

The Independent, along with the Daily Mirror, was broadly correct in its analysis of what would happen from the Iraq War; unlike the other papers. So if we listen to the views of newspapers with the best track record on Iraq analysis, surely we should be looking at the Indie.


[ Parent ]

Re: Will there be a public inquiry on Iraq? (#11)

by swatantra on Thu Dec 27, 2007 at 02:56:15 PM GMT

It was the first quality to go tabloid size.


[ Parent ]

Will there be a public inquiry on Iraq? | 15 comments (15 topical)