Families’ fury as Iraq war report ‘delayed until June’

GRIEVING families reacted angrily yesterday to claims the long- delayed Chilcot report into the Iraq war would not be ready until at least June next year.

Relatives of soldiers killed in the conflict condemned the latest hold-ups as ‘unacceptable’ and demanded to see the first draft, said to be riddled with errors and ‘so badly written that parts were incomprehensible’.

Senior military figures who were sent the draft reportedly complained that it blamed them for decisions made by politicians.

Sir John Chilcot and his panel are now said to be re- examining evidence in the light of the complaints – a process likened to undertaking a new inquiry.

The Iraq inquiry was launched six years ago and has already cost more than £10million but has yet to announce a date for publication. Families said they were ‘flabbergasted’ that basic mistakes could be to blame for the latest delays.

Author Tom Bower, who interviewed 160 figures from Government, civil service and the Armed Forces for a book about the Blair administration, said it would take at least nine months to prepare a ‘credible’ version of the report.

That would mean the report would not be published until June 2016, and it may face further delays. The draft, which was sent to witnesses for comment if they were likely to face criticism, was said to have prompted an angry reaction from senior military figures.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Mr Bower said that the military had been criticised in the inquiry for decisions that had actually been taken by politicians.

The generals and admirals who were shown the draft had told the inquiry they had been following legal orders, Mr Bower said, and they had also found there were documents referenced that had never been shown to the witnesses.

There were also complaints that the conclusions of the report had contradicted evidence, while some of the language used was incomprehensible.

Valerie O’Neill, whose Army medic son Kris, 27, was killed by a road- side bomb in 2007, said: ‘I’m flabbergasted. Sir John and his panel are supposed to be intelligent people. They have had six years – if they can’t get basic facts right it’s time for a judge to take over.

‘They should release the draft report to the families so we can see for ourselves. It’s very unfair that we have to fight every step of the way to learn the truth.’

Reg Keys, whose son Tom, 20, was killed in a mob ambush in June 2003, said: ‘Next June is unacceptable, it’s much too late. The lads who died didn’t quibble when they laid down their lives, they didn’t have the opportunity. Let these people stop quibbling and get on with it.

‘Families have to live with the black cloud of Iraq which has been hanging over us. My wife died in 2011 without ever knowing the outcome. I can’t put this behind me until this is settled. I need answers for Tom and for me, and I want them now.’

Former civil servant Sir John has blamed the hold-ups on a process dubbed ‘Maxwellisation’, a convention allowing those criticised to respond before the report is published to avoid unfairness.

He denied that witnesses – including former prime minister Tony Blair – had been given an openended timescale or were negotiating over his conclusions.

But Sir John – accused by senior MPs of lacking a conscience for failing to end the families’ pain – said the responses had opened up lines of investigation with previously unseen documents.

He also suggested that the Government and Whitehall were partly to blame for delays in obtaining classified documents.

The inquiry began in 2009 and finished taking its main evidence two years later. Roger Bacon, whose son Matthew, 34, was killed in an explosion in 2005, said: ‘It is absolutely ridiculous and suggests the huge delays are of the committee’s own making.’

An inquiry spokesman refused to comment, but said a timetable for publication would be provided once the Maxwellisation process was complete.

‘Need answers and

want them now’