Surprise, surprise ... Iraq War report is delayed AGAIN
Families’ disgust as publication is pushed back to 2016
THE families of Britain’s Iraq war dead expressed their disgust last night after learning the longawaited official report into the conflict may be delayed yet again.
Publication of Sir John Chilcot’s inquiry, which began in 2009 and has cost the taxpayer almost £10million, had already been pushed back until after the election. Yesterday it emerged it is unlikely to be published until next year at the earliest.
Bereaved parents said they were disgusted that their suffering was being dragged out to give leading figures in the inquiry, like Tony Blair, the chance to rebut its findings.
They added they were now expecting a whitewash when the report is finally pub- lished. earlier this year it emerged the report, expected to criticise dozen of senior figures involved in the 2003 conflict, had been pushed back until after the election because it was too politically sensitive to publish so close to a national poll.
But sources close to the investigation have now told BBC’s Newsnight that ‘nobody thinks it will come out this year’.
In comments that caused anger among military families, the sources suggested that ‘once they had failed to meet the preelection deadline, they gave up trying to speed things up’.
Further delays will fuel speculation that those criticised are trying to bury damning revelations.
Last night Rose Gentle, whose son Gordon, 19, was killed in Iraq in 2004, told the Mail: ‘I’m actually disgusted. I now definitely do feel like I am being fobbed off. How long do we have to wait? It has been 11 years since Gordon died and they are dragging it out for all the families.’ Reg Keys, whose 20-year- old son Tom died in 2003, said: ‘We were told from Sir John that it would be a robust and thorough inquiry and we would get the answers we were looking for. This Chilcot inquiry is like an open wound and we need those answers. To have to wait until 2016 for them is just ridiculous.’
Mr Keys, 62, added he thought the final report would likely be ‘watered down’.
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Tim Farron said speculation about a delay was ‘deeply concerning’. He added: ‘Hundreds of thousands of families have had their lives torn apart by the Iraq War and deserve answers. It is simply not good enough for this process to be continually delayed and the report must be published.’
The findings have been held up by the process of ‘Maxwellisation’ – giving individuals in the report a chance to respond.
Newsnight’s diplomatic editor Mark Urban said it had become a ‘nightmare’, with some of those criticised given drafts running to ‘hundreds of pages’.
Wrangling between the inquiry and Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood over the publication of Whitehall conversations and communications between Tony Blair and President George W Bush has also caused delays.
Janice Procter, 53, whose son Michael Tench, 18, was one of the youngest to die, told the Mail: ‘It is a total whitewash, I think the longer that it has gone on, the longer it is giving people a chance to change their responses. It is all lies, lies, lies. I don’t think anybody will get an answer from it.’
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he was ‘dismayed beyond belief that we are having to wait so long – and now, it is being reported, even longer than I had feared – to finally find out the truth of what happened.’
Mr Blair has previously denied responsibility for hold-ups to the inquiry – which stopped taking evidence in 2011.
Neither the Government nor the inquiry would comment on any delays.
Comment – Page 16
‘I feel like I am being fobbed off’ ‘It is a total whitewash’