Straw to be savaged by ‘brutal’ Iraq war report
FORMER Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has been sent a 5,000- word letter by the Chilcot inquiry listing alleged failings over the Iraq war, sources said yesterday.
The length and weight of detail of potential criticisms indicate the report may draw tough conclusions on the war’s architects.
Mr Straw, who became Foreign Secretary in 2001, is understood to be at risk of criticism over his handling of the run-up to conflict in 2003 and his department’s role in the British occupation of Basra afterwards.
He was informed under the ‘Maxwellisation’ process where those likely to be criticised by official reports receive prior notice of what is to be said and have chance to reply.
The process is said to be partly why former civil servant Sir John Chilcot has taken more than five years to publish his report – the inquiry heard its last evidence in public in 2011.
Details of the Straw letter emerged on a day when another source said the ex-Foreign Secretary is among several figures at risk of serious ‘damage to their reputations’ when the report is published on July 6, after the EU poll on June 23.
The source, said to have discussed the report with two of its board of authors, told the Sunday Times that Tony Blair and ex-MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove will also bear the brunt of Sir John’s criticism.
A former minister with knowledge of the thinking of the report committee said, according to the newspaper: ‘It will be absolutely brutal for Straw. The build-up to war is very crucial. It will damage the reputations of a number of people, Richard Dearlove as well as Tony Blair and others. There is a second half. The report will say we really did make a mess of the aftermath.’
One reason for the delay is thought to have been problems getting access to records of the Prime Minister’s discussions with George Bush in the months before the conflict.
Mr Blair is suspected of giving the then US president assurances of UK backing to go to war a year before the invasion, and any criticism of Mr Straw is likely to focus on his involvement in the run-up to war. Sir Richard may be harshly treated by the report over intelligence contributions to Mr Blair’s ‘dodgy dossier’ and false suggestions that Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein could use weapons of mass destruction at 45 minutes’ notice.
Jeremy Corbyn is preparing to call for Mr Blair to be investigated for war crimes following the report’s release, the Daily Telegraph reported. Before becoming Labour leader, Mr Corbyn made repeated demands for the ex-prime minister to face trial over Iraq.
Spy chiefs may be criticised by Chilcot for letting services become providers of political propaganda for the government rather than useful information to ministers.
The source also said Mr Straw would be criticised over the quality of staff the Foreign Office sent to help run Basra after the war. The occupation became a fiasco which deeply damaged the reputation of the Army before troops left in 2007.
The Sunday Times was told: ‘The British Army really misjudged and had to be rescued by the Americans. We sent in inexperienced people.’ Other findings are said to question the information provided by Washington to British diplomats, with ambassador Sir Christopher Meyer ‘bounced along’ by the US. The Americans disbanded the Iraqi army and extremists took a grip when reconstruction plans proved inadequate.
Ex-Cabinet Secretary Lord Turnbull may be in Chilcot’s firing line for allowing Mr Blair’s associates to make key decisions ‘sofa style’ without officials to record discussions.