Guardian online have quoted me accurately, whilst this morning’s Independent misrepresented my position, on the Iraq war inquiry.
The Guardian was quoting what I said at an event at the Commons last night, in which Robert Peston of the BBC, Tory MP Alan Duncan and I were garnering ‘cash for questions’ to raise money for the Journalists’ Charity, formerly the Newspaper Press Fund. Not surprisingly, one of the questions was whether I agreed with Gordon Brown’s decision that the Iraq war inquiry should hold evidence sessions in private.
I said to the room full of journalists that they would probably not like what I had to say. ‘There have been several inquiries on this and those who are critical of the government’s policy on Iraq will only accept the findings of any inquiry that says the government was wrong. So the Hutton Inquiry, which completely cleared the government – you didn’t want to hear it.’
There was a bit of jeering from some of the hacks at this point, so I reminded them that we were also cleared by the select committee inquiries. I then said it was not an open and shut case that the inquiry should be held in public, and added, as quoted by the Guardian, ‘it frankly won’t make any difference to them because they’ve made their minds up, these critics of the government, whatever comes out. The question then becomes whether you genuinely want to have an inquiry which finds out exactly what happened and that tries to learn lessons.’
I said that on balance, I thought GB made the right decision, but ‘it is not a straight-forward decision. Unless it is black and white, the modern media cannot cope with it.’
I can see the arguments for both sides – openness and transparency favours a public inquiry; but it may well be that the inquiry will do a better job freed from the frenzy of 24 hour media. GB’s point about the Bloody Sunday Inquiry – still going after eight years – was also well made.
I also think that Sir Robin Butler, who doubtless agreed it was right to have held his own inquiry in private, was somewhat in score-settling mode, and that while some military are arguing for it to be in public, many others would have strongly argued the opposite had GB announced a public inquiry. Like I said, it is not a straightforward decision.
As for the Independent, it carried a piece suggesting I had been closely involved in discussions prior to the announcement and that I had been instrumental in persuading GB to go down the private route. This is not so. Until last Thursday, when I attended a Labour fundraiser at which the PM was speaking, I knew no more than I had read in the papers. That evening, one of his advisors told me he was going to be announcing the inquiry within the next few days, the panel had been decided and agreed, it was a genuine ‘lessons learned’ inquiry and the Opposition were being consulted that day.
Number 10 alerted me at the weekend that the statement was likely to be on Monday. I was told there was a discussion going on as to whether some sessions should be public, with the bulk of evidence in private. I made the point that I thought it should be very clearly one or the other, that whichever it was could be strongly defended, and that if there was anything in between, there was a risk of ending up with the worst of all worlds.
Given the journalist, one of the ones who normally checks, did not do so on this occasion, and others might be tempted to repeat what he said also without doing so, I thought I should clear this up.
AC, many people use critical analysis when studying a subject matter, be it philosophy, economics or history. The same can be said of people who study war and the impact it has on all of us. AC it is a bit harsh to assume that many people who are critical of the occupation are just simply being judgemental. The truth is many people have researched this conflict in great depth and looked at all the evidence before reaching a conclusion. Unfortunately for the government the evidence does not justify an invasion. It would have been helpful if the governments who had gathered the correct evidence and researched the subject matter thoroughly, this conflict may never had happened. The sooner the truth is out, the sooner we can all move on from this painful catastrophe. Many people need this enquiry to heal wounds as well as learning lessons. AC I suggest you get yourself a good counsellor who will support you through the enquiry. I think you will need it.
This isn’t about the media it’s about the people.
We want a public inquiry because it gives us the best chance of getting near the truth, Yes it would still be presented via the British establishment media but better that than filtering by the government and the media.
Brown’s new openness has been already been exposed as a complete sham. The decision for a secret inquiry shows clearly how vile Labour are. They don’t give a stuff for the people who have shed their blood on this misadventure.
Thanks to the internet and the independent views of bloggers and access to global news interpretations – for the first time ever there’s a chance of getting close to the truth.
Hence the secrecy.
Over the past few days, AC has been jumping from one subject matter to another. The regulars on this blog must be dizzy as AC uses his deflection strategies to stop the critics of The Occupatifrom discussing the forthcoming enquiry. The usual crowd on this blog who slavishly support everything their spinmaster has to say are nowhere to be seen. Perhaps they are having lessons on the importance of critical analysis and how this can benefit humanity. AC it is important to everybody that you support an open and honest enquiry. It will put an end to all sorts of unfinished business-bereaved families’protesters, media- and you will want to move on from it too. This cannot happen if the enquiry is another whitewash such as the Hutton debacle. Thank you and I bid you good day.
You’re quite right : we don’t need another inquiry, public or secret. We know quite well that were were led into an illegal war by mendacious toerags like you and Tony Blair.
“So the Hutton Inquiry, which completely cleared the government – you didn’t want to hear it.’ ”
Actually it didn’t. I would be happy to talk it through with you, or further discuss by email – if you’re interested.
The only part of Hutton that could be regarded as a ‘whitewash’ was the “Summary of Conclusions”.
In fact, the evidence gathered by Hutton is pretty interesting stuff and demonstrates that, on the balance of probabilities (if not beyond reasonable doubt) that there was little, or no, substantial intelligence suggesting Iraq could, or would, threaten the UK.
Furthermore, that such evidence as did exist was deliberately framed in such a manner as to misleadingly suggest that Iraq could, or would, threaten the UK.
The consequences of this are that 1. the government deliberately mislead the population (‘lied’ if you will) 2. the framing of the war was designed around creating some semblance (no matter how tenuous) of legality 3. that the war was illegal.
This last point is uncontentious. Why else would the previous UN Sec Gen (a diplomat of course) feel entitled to describe the occupation of Iraq as ‘illegal’?
How you feel about point 1. and 2. depends on whether you’ve looked at the evidence, whether you have a stake in denying the truth of the matter or whather, like much of the population, you haven’t the time to sift through the evidence, but intuition tells you the political class is as bent as the proverbial nine bob note.
I have to admire your talent for doing your job but I think it is a terrible shame that those talents were employed towards such a terrible end.
I feel sure you will not agree with me, it would no doubt we very hard to live with yourself if you didn’t, so I welcome you to contact me and we can discuss this further.
Kind regards
Jesse
We do not believe anything you say. The British public will not be satisfied until a proper public enquiry is held. We want those responsible prosecuted – this means your former master, Tony Blair, a man jointly responsible with George Bush, the two mass murderers of the modern day.
I don’t want any inquiry, I think we all know what happened by now. Like always people will believe what they want and those responsible will spin the usual self justification. I confidently predict it will satisfy no-one.