Iraq families give Chilcot one-month ultimatum
BEREAVED families of British soldiers killed in Iraq will today give Sir John Chilcot a final ultimatum to publish his long-delayed report.
Now that all those criticised in the document have responded, the Iraq inquiry chairman has no excuse not to fix a date for its release, they say.
And they have demanded he announce this date within a month.
Parents desperate to learn the truth about why Tony Blair sent UK troops to fight in the disastrous 2003 conflict said they were being denied ‘an end to our suffering’. So far, the inquiry has taken six years and cost the taxpayer £10million.
Last week, retired civil servant Sir John said the convention allowing witnesses a pre-publication right of reply – a process known as ‘Maxwellisation’ – had finally been completed.
However, he claimed it was impossible to set a timetable for releasing the report because he must evaluate the ‘detailed and substantial’ submissions from respondents – includ- ing Mr Blair, military chiefs and civil servants. The families have now sent Sir John an open letter warning they will ‘not go away’ – and vowing to press ahead with threatened legal action if a date is not set. In a blistering attack, they accuse Sir John of ‘sidelining and ignoring’ the loved ones of those who died toppling Saddam Hussein.
The letter is from 29 relatives spearheading the legal challenge, including Roger Bacon – whose son Matthew, 34, died in a roadside blast in Basra ten years ago – and Reg Keys, whose 20-year-old son Thomas was killed by an Iraqi mob in 2003.
It says: ‘We have now waited six years for you to publish – we cannot wait any longer. We suffered enough when sombre-faced military personnel knocked on our doors to tell us our loved ones had been killed.
‘Every day that you fail to publish your report, every day without answers, is another day we are denied an end to our grieving and another day of suffering.’ The families insist it was ‘no coincidence’ that Sir John announced the Maxwellisation process was complete less than a month after being warned he could be dragged to court.
The letter adds: ‘While the Maxwellees – those individuals allegedly who deployed our loved ones to fight in a controversial war, whose misconduct sent them into battle ill- equipped and, thereby, to their deaths ... have been given every attention and possible courtesy, we have been sidelined and ignored. While they were given every chance to stall publication, you have fought us at every turn – when all we have done is urged you to tackle the delay.
‘While they were given the assistance of taxpayer-funded government lawyers, you threatened us with costs for even daring to challenge you.
‘You claim that your inquiry is open and fair – maybe to the Maxwellees, but not to us ... It is with regret that we must tell you that such hypocrisy is astonishing.
‘We do not intend to go away ... in the absence of any reasonable, transparent and full explanation why you cannot, we expect you to write to the Prime Minister within one month with a date for publication, which should be by the end of the year.
‘By your own admission, now Maxwellisation is over, there is nothing to prevent you doing this. If you fail to do so, we will continue with our legal challenge.’
Sir John – accused by senior MPs of lacking a conscience for failing to end the families’ pain – had been forced to deny that witnesses were given an open- ended timescale or were negotiating over conclusions.