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The main points are:

  • The UK chose to join the invasion of Iraq before the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted. Military action at that time was not a last resort.
  • Military action might have been necessary later, but in March 2003: There was no imminent threat from Saddam Hussein; The strategy of containment could have been adapted and continued for some time; The majority of the Security Council supported continuing UN inspections and monitoring.
  • Judgements about the severity of threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction - known as WMD - were presented with a certainty that was not justified.
  • Intelligence had "not established beyond doubt" that Saddam Hussein had continued to produce chemical and biological weapons.
  • Policy on Iraq was made on the basis of flawed intelligence assessments. It was not challenged, and should have been.
  • The circumstances in which it was decided that there was a legal basis for UK military action were "far from satisfactory".
  • The invasion began on 20 March 2003 but not until 13 March did then Attorney General Lord Goldsmith advise there was on balance a secure legal basis for military action. Apart from No 10's response to his letter on 14 March, no formal record was made of that decision and the precise grounds on which it was made remain unclear.
  • The UK's actions undermined the authority of the United Nations Security Council: The UN's Charter puts responsibility for the maintenance of peace and security in the Security Council. The UK government was claiming to act on behalf of the international community "to uphold the authority of the Security Council". But it knew it did not have a majority supporting its actions.
  • In Cabinet, there was little questioning of Lord Goldsmith about his advice and no substantive discussion of the legal issues recorded.
  • There was "little time" to properly prepare three military brigades for deployment in Iraq. The risks were neither "properly identified nor fully exposed" to ministers, resulting in "equipment shortfalls".
  • Between 2003 and 2009, UK forces in Iraq faced gaps in some key capability areas - including armoured vehicles, reconnaissance and intelligence assets and helicopter support.
  • It was not sufficiently clear which person in the department within the Ministry of Defence had responsibility for identifying and articulating such gaps.
  • Delays in providing adequate medium weight protected patrol vehicles and the failure to meet the needs of UK forces for reconnaissance and intelligence equipment and helicopters should not have been tolerated.
  • On 28 July 2002, the then Prime Minister Tony Blair assured US President George W Bush he would be with him "whatever". But in the letter, he pointed out that a US coalition for military action would need: Progress on the Middle East peace process; UN authority; and a shift in public opinion in the UK, Europe, and among Arab leaders.
  • Despite explicit warnings, the consequences of the invasion were underestimated. The planning and preparations for Iraq after Saddam Hussein were "wholly inadequate".
  • The government failed to achieve the stated objectives it had set itself in Iraq. More than 200 British citizens died as a result of the conflict. Iraqi people suffered greatly. By July 2009, at least 150,000 Iraqis had died, probably many more. More than one million were displaced.
  • The report sets out lessons to be learned: It found Mr Blair overestimated his ability to influence US decisions on Iraq; and the UK's relationship with the US does not require unconditional support.
  • It said ministerial discussion which encourages frank and informed debate and challenge is important. As is ensuring civilian and military arms of government are properly equipped.
  • In future, all aspects of any intervention need to be calculated, debated and challenged with rigour. Decisions need to be fully implemented.

Replies sorted oldest to newest

velvet donkey posted:
Madame Arcati posted:

I don't know how he sleeps at night.

 

He's got more front than Brighton

He wasn't addressing us. His was addressing his homie in the good old USA.

 

Back to business as usual..

I was waiting for his bottom lip to start wobbling and for him to say " S'not fair!  Not my fault; George told me to do it.

Madame Arcati
Madame Arcati posted:

Thanks, El.

 

Have been listening to Blair's speech but had to switch off.  I thought I heard him claim that the world is a better and safer place because of the action he took, but I must have mis-heard, surely?

You would think, eh?   Hate to see the state of the world if he hadn't then.   Lying toad.

Kaffs

We couldn't wait to get rid of Blair. Those of us in the party remember the years leading up to that election when suddenly our left wing candidates were bundled out of the way, replaced by Blairites administered by men in suits!

However I'm yet to meet anyone who thought the invasion was justified. No-one believed the rubbish written about the secular Sadaam Hussein. No WMD. No 45 minute threat. So why oh why oh why did the Tories support it? Why didn't they join the Labour rebels? Why didn't they save all those lives? 

Not hindsight. Just as we've been right about Brexit, we were right about Iraq.

(I got my second degree out of that! :smug

Garage Joe

It annoys me that an inquirey has taken so long and tells us something we already knew...and over a million people marched, people who for the most part had never marched before, who felt so strongly that it was wrong, were ignored....that was what we were used to under Thatcher and it caused great disillusionment with New Labour

Amythist

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