Alwaght-The
English Iraq War inquiry led by Sir John Chilcot may not report its findings
until next year, despite the investigation starting in 2009 and completing its
evidence-gathering phase in 2011.
It is said that the report will not
be published before the general election, prompting an outcry from those demanding
that the long overdue reckoning should be put before the voters.
The
report is understood to be over a million words long, analyses over 150,000
government documents and will contain details of discussions of more than 200
cabinet meetings.
Tony Blair, the prime minister at the time of
the war, has insisted he is not the culprit behind the delay in publication;
his allies have suggested the blame lies with the civil service and
sensitivities about the relations between the UK and the US intelligence agencies.
It is understood that the publication date of
the inquiry was discussed by the English and American delegations when Cameron
met Barack Obama at the White House. But the threat of a Commons vote has added
urgency to the issue.
David Davis, the former shadow home secretary
who has been a leading voice in calling for the report to be published before
the election, said it was incomprehensible that the report was being delayed
until after the election.
“Frankly this is not good enough. It is
more than five years since it started. It is incomprehensible as to why this is
(being delayed). We need to know why. This is not simply some formality. This
is for the whole country to understand why we made a terrible mistake in Iraq.
Simply putting it off is not good enough," David said.
David Davis also warned “When decisions such as those that were made in Libya, Syria
and Iraq are made without knowledge of all the facts, mistakes are made and
sometimes people die as a result. So it is not hyperbole to say that the delay
to the Iraq inquiry could cost lives because bad decisions could be made.”
In a so-called democratic country such as UK Chilcot
would have been expected to explain to MPs the reasons of the delay, but Davis
says, “We are getting neither the report nor the explanation”.
On the other hand it was reported on the BBC’s
Newsnight program that the slow response of those criticized in the report,
including former Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
- who have a right to see the report ahead of publication - is playing a large
part in the delay.
In
January, the report’s delays were brought up for the first time during a
Commons debate, with MPs voicing their frustration over the repeated deferral
of the publication date.
During the debate, Welsh MP Elfyn Llwyd warned
delays to the inquiry could turn Westminster into “the laughing stock of the
world.”
He said, “Democracy, I think, demands
that something is done urgently otherwise this parliament will be the laughing
stock of the world.”
“It’s an insult to Parliament,
but more important it’s a gross offence to those people who’ve lost loved ones
out in Iraq and to the people of Iraq itself,” said Llwyd.
This was maybe the first time where
an English official mentions the people of Iraq and takes them in
consideration, where the whole argument and inquiry demand was revolving around
the English people themselves and the families of the dead English soldiers in
Iraq.
The US from its side is also pressuring on UK
not to release the inquiry war report of Iraq due to the sensitive documents it
contains such as talks between Bush and Blair moments before taking the
decision for attacking Iraq.
So in a claimed democratic country, personal
issues are being overweighed with issues that mean to a whole country such as
Iraq and its innocent people who were attacked and invaded by US and UK
soldiers, and who also have the priority to know what is in the English Chilcot
Report on Iraq War. Once again UK and the US are trying to flee from the
scandal that will let the whole world know their evil reality.