Sunday 10 November 2013

Chilcott Scandal

“When it was set up in 2009 by Gordon Brown, the inquiry chaired by Sir John Chilcot into how Britain went to war in Iraq was supposed to take a year to complete. Four years later, it appears no closer to drawing to a close, with some wondering whether it will ever report. The inquiry, which has cost £7.4m so far, was designed to examine the run-up to the Iraq war in 2003 and its aftermath, and covers an eight-year period between 2001 and 2009. At the heart of the latest delay is the refusal by the cabinet secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, to release records of some 130 conversations between Tony Blair, his successor, Brown, and then US president, George W Bush.
Included among the records being sought, according to a letter sent to David Cameron and published on the inquiry's website, are "25 notes from Mr Blair to President Bush" and "some 200 cabinet-level discussions", which are also being withheld.” Observer 10/11/13

Government shenanigans and rampant hypocrisy are vomit-inducing. Today at 11-00am our third-rate leaders will put on their solemn face, stand gravely to attention and ‘honour’ the dead of two world wars - not forgetting numerous other ‘engagements.’ There will be talk of 'dying for freedom.' There will be talk of 'not dying in vain.' There will be talk of 'the debt we owe.' Anyone within earshot of one of our duplicitous leaders spouting such garbage should be entitled to pour a bucket of said sick over the offender. 

Judge them by what they do.

“There is an ugly irony in the British government repeatedly telling us if we have nothing to hide we have nothing to worry about in relation to their widespread surveillance of citizens, but when it comes to the former leader of the country this espousal of transparency and accountability is not required.

The hypocritical shield for the perpetrators of what was a war of choice and therefore surely illegal has naturally contributed to the disillusionment and cynicism of the electorate. There is something rotten in the State of Denmark and forefront and centre stands Tony Blair. The deep state is still working against the interests of the people and anyone who cares about democracy should be deeply worried.

Blair is tarnished beyond repair and his latest incarnation as the PR spinmeister for some of the most despotic tyrants of the world indicates that the hubris and folie de grandeur that enabled Blair to tell us that God was informing his every decision has remained the hallmark of this dangerously superficial and deceitful man. Everything that he touches is shredded: from his expense accounts to his relationship to the truth and the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians and the British troops too that he sent into battle with substandard equipment. The messianic and grotesque actions of this charlatan will be his abiding legacy- and must never be forgotten.

What is also indicative of a deep malaise at the heart of our system is the knowledge that there has been no admission of guilt for the illegal rendition of Libyan informants by the Blair regime and yet they were financially compensated. We are in a mess.

I was hoping against hope that Chilcott would contribute to the definitive search for truth, but now things are looking like the archetypical inquiry of this kind- a hat trick. What price democracy?
Ineluctable2u Observer 10/11/13


What price democracy indeed. 

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