Demanding Iraq War Inquiry Release Ahead of May Election

Plaid Cymru demands that voters get to read the findings of the Iraq Inquiry ahead of May election

Nov 24, 2014 - On the fifth anniversary of the first session of Sir John Chilcot’s Iraq Inquiry, politicians have condemned the fact that the report into the lessons of the conflict has yet to be published.

There are fears that the public will now not see the report ahead of the May 2015 election.

Plaid Cymru Westminster leader Elfyn Llwyd said: “Today marks the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Chilcot Inquiry. It is scandalous that ministerial embarrassment and conflicts of interest within the inquiry itself have meant that we are still waiting, five years on, for the report to be published.”

He added: “When the inquiry was first established, I surrendered confidential documents which had been sent to me some years before, from an unknown source, which I believe prove that in 2001-02 there were active discussions within Government on regime change and the need for overwhelming force in Iraq.” read more>>>

Tony Blair shown Iraq inquiry findings prior to public release

November 18, 2014 - Letters containing in-depth conclusions of a public inquiry into Britain’s 2003 Iraq War have been dispatched to the probe’s primary participants. Critics charge that the brutal eight-year war divided Britain and blackened Tony Blair’s legacy.

Under UK law, any individual that faces criticism in a public inquiry must be issued with an official letter warning them of allegations in its findings. They are subsequently then permitted to rebut and counter unsavory or unsatisfactory findings.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw both reportedly received such letters in recent weeks, warning them of key criticisms in the inquiry’s findings.

The documents were dubbed “Maxwellisation” letters, following Czechoslovakian-born UK media mogul and MP Robert Maxwell’s overturning of allegations in a critical report levelled at him in 1969.

Last month, ministers came under increasing pressure to name the date when the findings of the Iraq inquiry, headed by Sir John Chilcot, would be published. read more>>>

* * * Seeds of ISIL Planted By Bush/Cheney and Conservative Congresses * * *

* * * The British Iraq War Inquiry * * * Released will carry private communications between GWBush and TBlair, like this already released: TB said there was a danger the Tories would see this as their chance to get rid of him … Bush said they would make it clear to the Tories that if they moved to get rid of TB "we will get rid of them".

* * * Iraq War Promoted Terrorism Rather Than Reducing It * * * 24 April 2014 - Britain’s involvement in the Iraq War promoted terrorism rather than reducing it and was a “strategic failure”, according to a major new report which estimated the cost of all UK conflicts since the end of the Cold War.
The Royal United Services Institute said the UK could face a bill of nearly £65bn, once the cost of long-term care for injured veterans was factored in, with most of the money was spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The study, called Wars in Peace, said both conflicts were largely “strategic failures” for the UK, The Guardian reported."

Facts: Matthew Hoh {former Marine and foreign service officer in Afghanistan}: "We spend a trillion dollars a year on national security in this country."
"And when you add up to the Department of Defense, Department of State, CIA, Veterans Affairs, interest on debt, the number that strikes me the most about how much we're committed financially to these wars and to our current policies is we have spent $250 billion already just on interest payments on the debt we've incurred for the Iraq and Afghan wars." 26 September 2014

Bob Herbert "Losing Our Way" : "And then the staggering costs of these wars, which are borne by the taxpayers. I mean, one of the things that was insane was that, as we're at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush administration cut taxes. This has never been done in American history. The idea of cutting taxes while you're going to war is just crazy. I mean, it's madness." Bill 'Moyers and Company': Restoring an America That Has Lost its Way 10 Oct. 2014

Chris Hayes MSNBC: "If you can run a deficit to go to war, you can run a deficit to take care of the people who fought it" In response to Republican opposition to expanding Veterans' benefits on fiscal grounds