Chilcot Inquiry

Delayed publication of the Chilcot report

The 10th anniversary of the publication of the Commission report has just passed.

This message was sent to the following UK media: Daily Mail, Express, Telegraph, Guardian, Observer, The Times, The Sunday Times, Independent, Evening Standard, Channel 4 News and ITN news.

I am writing with reference to the continued delay in the publication of the Chilcot report into the invasion of Iraq.

Given Lady Butler-Sloss was forced to stand down over a perceived conflict of interest, I hope the information contained in this letter will be useful.

The mandated investigation timeframe for the enquiry is “the period from the summer of 2001 to the end of July 2009” and hence encompasses the 9.11 attack. No evidence was found to link Iraq to 9.11 and a UK report entitled “Responsibility for the Terrorist Atrocities in the United States” published in October 2001 forewarns the reader with a caveat stating “This document does not purport to provide prosecutable case against Osama Bin Laden in a court of law”. So the evidence was good enough for two illegal invasions but not for a jury.

Families of Iraq war dead dismayed as Chilcot Inquiry hit by further delays

Families of soldiers killed in Iraq reacted with dismay yesterday after it emerged that Sir John Chilcot’s report into the war has been hit by yet more delays after objections over declassifying Tony Blair's private messages.

The Iraq Inquiry, set up by Gordon Brown to find the truth about Britain’s involvement in the Iraq War, remains at loggerheads with the Cabinet Office over the publication of classified documents.

It means Sir John’s report will not be published until late next year at the earliest – two years behind schedule – though if the issue is not resolved soon it could be 2014 before the report sees the light of day.

Reg Keys, a founder of the campaign group Military Families Against the War and the father of L/Cpl Tom Keys, who was killed in Iraq in 2003, said the delay was “frustrating” and would prolong the agony of families like his.

The Spy Who Hated Wikileaks

Richard Dearlove is the former head of the British foreign intelligence service. This is the intelligence department dramatized in James Bond films, and Dearlove could be described as the "real version" of "M" although in actuality the head of MI6 is referred to as "C".[1]

In July 2002, Dearlove reportedly said that "intelligence was being fixed around the policy", in reference to the run-up to the Iraq War.[2] The source for this remarkable observation is the now infamous "Downing Street Memo".

Dearlove recently held a talk at Cambridge, and insisted no recordings were to be made. Topic of the talk was "principally in relation to Wikileaks". In yet another twist of beautiful irony, the presentation was leaked.

Please do not assume this video to remain on Youtube.[3] Send it far and wide.

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