How dare Chilcot go on holiday while we wait in agony?
Families’ fury at Iraq probe chairman’s ‘time off’
GRIEVING families of British troops killed in Iraq said last night that Sir John Chilcot was ‘adding insult to injury’ amid rumours he had taken a holiday from his long overdue report into the war.
Relatives desperate to learn the truth about why Tony Blair sent their sons and daughters to fight said they were ‘ appalled’ the Iraq Inquiry chairman had apparently taken time off.
Parents said they were ‘left in limbo’ because he had refused to answer questions about why the report – which has taken six years and cost more than £10million – had been delayed.
Sir John has not been seen since the Daily Mail revealed last week t hat 29 f amilies had launched an unprecedented legal battle to force him to deliver his review by the end of the year.
The Iraq war – which began in 2003 – cost 179 British lives.
Reg Keys, whose son Lance Corporal Thomas Keys was one of six Red Caps killed by an Iraqi mob in 2003, said: ‘If the chairman has gone on holiday, it just adds insult
Sir John: Six-year review to injury. Believe me, the families wish they could take a holiday with peace of mind. But we can’t because we are still enduring the torment and anxiety of waiting for Sir John to publish.’
John Miller, whose son Simon was also killed in the attack, said: ‘I have been waiting 12 years to find out why my son was sent to Iraq and why he was killed. I want answers and I expected the Chilcot Report to provide them. As far as I am concerned my son was lied to and died for nothing. I am disgusted by the delays. We are not being treated with slightest respect. Where are the answers we were promised?’
The families spoke out after David Cameron sought to shame Sir John into ending the scandal over the delayed report. The Prime Minister said it was important to publish it before parents who lost loved ones in the conflict died themselves.
In a message to the chairman, he said: ‘You have had plenty of time now, you have got to get on with it, set a date for publication and let’s put this past us.’
But he admitted he could not order the 76-year-old retired civil servant to deliver it because the inquiry was independent. This week the review will have taken longer than the six years and 69 days UK troops fought in Iraq.
Last week Sir John was accused by senior MPs of lacking a conscience f or f ail i ng to give bereaved families the answers they had been promised.
Relatives have given him a twoweek ultimatum to set a date for releasing the report or they will go to court. The delays have been blamed on the controversial process of ‘Maxwellisation’, in which people criticised in the report are notified and allowed to respond before publication.
Despite the clamour, Sir John was recently working just eight hours a week. Meanwhile, former top brass said the failure to publish risked undermining the mission against Islamic State and endangering British lives.
Lord West, former First Sea Lord who was in charge of the Royal Navy during the Iraq war, said: ‘It’s ridiculous it’s taken this long. There’s an operational imperative now. We will be looking at getting involved in air attacks in Syria after the autumn and with IS we may f ind ourselves moving towards doing more.
‘It would be very good to learn the lessons from the Iraq business before we find ourselves in a position having to make decisions on Syria.’
Sir John and his committee had to study more than 150,000 documents and took oral testimony from more than 150 witnesses, including former Tony Blair. An inquiry spokesman declined to comment on Sir John’s whereabouts.