Raising Questions About a Conspiracy of Silence Following the Iraq War

The whiff of suspicion over the Chilcot Inquiry grows stronger

Lord Owen is right to raise questions about a conspiracy of silence following the Iraq War

29 May 2013 - Almost four years have passed since Sir John Chilcot called a press conference to launch his inquiry into Britain’s role in the Iraq War. He grimly acknowledged that “there have been inquiries which have taken very long periods of time: they are being held on a quite different basis from ours”. Sir John insisted that he was “determined to avoid… a long, drawn-out inquiry”. His would all be over within “a year and a half, maybe a bit more” – in other words, by the summer of 2011.

Sad to report, Sir John’s inquiry was (apparently) still at work in the summer of 2011. Then 2012 came and went. Earlier this year, there was a buzz around Whitehall that Sir John was due to announce his findings this summer, but this hope has also vanished. Eyes are now starting to turn, in the words of one senior figure very close to the inquiry, towards “the end of this year and maybe 2014”.

Comparisons are being made privately to the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday, which was published an unfeasible 12 years after being commissioned, and an outrageous 38 years after the events it investigated. read more>>>

Meanwhile what came out in a flurry early on in public testimony at the Chilcot Inquiry, with more following and we still don't know what was said behind closed doors nor given in still classified files.

24 November 2009 - Even before Bush's administration came to power an article written by his then national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, warned that "nothing will change" in Iraq until Saddam was gone

27 November 2009 - But there was a 'sea change' in attitude after the atrocities, with former national security adviser Condoleezza Rice targeting Iraq on the very day of the outrage.

30 November 2009 - George Bush tried to make a connection between Iraq and al-Qaida in a conversation with Tony Blair three days after the 9/11 attacks, according to Blair's foreign policy adviser of the time.

1 December 2009 - There was "a touching belief [in Washington] that we shouldn't worry so much about the aftermath because it was all going to be sweetness and light".

3 December 2009 - Boyce mentions the "dysfunctionalism" of Washington. He says that he would find himself briefing his American counterparts on what was happening in different parts of the US administration. Rumsfeld was not sharing information

Written Transcripts by Date of each session.

Oral Evidence by Date

Witnesses who have given oral evidence in public

Declassified Documents

And more, we still have nothing on what went on behind closed doors and may or may not with the final report, if and when it's released.