Darth Vader

Sir John Sawers, now head of MI6 but once a close adviser to Tony Blair, told the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war that foolish decisions to disband the Iraqi army and dismiss thousands of members of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party were taken by the US alone without taking into account British advice.

These decisions, as predicted at the time by those with some understanding of Iraq, proved to be disastrous and significantly contributed to the chaos that followed the ousting of Saddam.

Sawers said that the decisions were taken by Paul Bremer, US head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, on the basis of "pre-agreed Washington policy".

Sawers was also less than complimentary about the attire of US soldiers, which he believed caused a lack of rapport with the locals:

"the posture of the US army in their tanks, in their Darth Vader kit with the wraparound sunglasses and helmets and flak jackets and everything else. There was no real rapport between the US army and the ordinary citizens."

However, whilst it may satisfy Labour party politics to blame the US, the UK had the choice not to become involved in this folly; Labour only have themselves to blame for this mess.

Blair Knew There Were No WMDs

Sir John Scarlett, head of the Joint Intelligence Committee in the run-up to the Iraq war, told the Chilcot Inquiry into the war that Tony Blair knew that last-minute intelligence revealed that Saddam Hussein had probably dismantled his chemical and biological weaponry.

Iraq and The EU

A small "pop quiz" to start the day with.

Pop quiz

Held Together By Chicken Wire

As news comes out of Iraq that 100 people have been killed in terrorist bombings, the Chilcot Inquiry into Iraq heard from Maj Gen Tim Cross, who liaised with the US on reconstruction efforts before the invasion, who said that planning for after the war was "woefully thin".

Indeed so concerned was Maj Cross about the lack of planning, that he urged Tony Blair to delay the invasion.

Blair, true to form, ignored the advice.

Gen Cross went on to say that, when he went to Iraq, the situation was far worse than he feared and that "Baghdad was held together by chicken wire and chewing gum".

Doctors Call For New Kelly Inquest

Six doctors are calling for a new inquest into the death of Dr David Kelly, the UN weapons inspector hounded to death by the government for leaking the fact that evidence for the Iraq invasion had been "sexed up".

There are those who believe that Dr Kelly was in fact murdered, rather than committed suicide. His body was discovered in woodland 6 years ago, his wrist had been slashed and he had taken painkillers.

The 6 doctors (Dr Stephen Frost, Dr Michael Powers QC, Martin Birnstingl, Dr Christopher Burns-Cox, David Halpin, and Dr Andrew Rouse), in a 13-page dossier calling for a new inquest, argue that the bleeding from Dr Kelly's ulnar artery in his left wrist is "highly unlikely" to have caused his death.