Sir John Chilcot’s mammoth report on the second Iraq war is, on an objective reading, damning: the war was probably illegal, the intelligence flawed, the political judgments premature and over-eager. The major protagonists in the United States, Britain and Australia stand condemned. If they were not actually guilty of war crimes, they should certainly be chastened and ashamed: apologies and repentance are the least they can offer.
Source: A lovely war | The Monthly
The Iraq War was illegal, according to Lord Prescott, the deputy prime minister at the time of the 2003 invasion. The Labour heavyweight used his strongest language yet to condemn Tony Blair’s decision to take part in the Iraq War, a decision he supported at the time. Lord Prescott’s comments come just days after the publication of the long-awaited Iraq Inquiry report by Sir John Chilcot. Writing in The Sunday Mirror the peer said: “I will live with the decision of going to war and its catastrophic consequences for the rest of my life.
If future military disasters are to be avoided, the media must also face up to its mistakes.
Source: Chilcot lets media off hook for selling Iraq war – Al Jazeera English
Former British PM Tony Blair defends his place in history after the damning inquiry into the Iraq war.
A haggard-looking Tony Blair spent two hours struggling to rescue his reputation from the ruins of Iraq. In his protracted press conference, the former Prime Minister expressed sorrow for the British soldiers killed or maimed after the invasion of March 2003 and offered an apology – but insisted that the world was a better place for the removal of the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, and the Chilcot report proved he had acted in good faith.
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