Brown "Misspoke"

I see that Gordon Brown "misspoke" during his recent appearance before the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war, when he claimed that defence spending had increased in "real terms" each year under Labour.

It transpires that it hasn't!

Brown has written to Chilcot to clarify his "error".

I wonder if he "misspoke" about other matters?

The World According To Miliband

The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, told the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war that the UK's involvement in the war has earned it respect in the Middle East.

Miliband is of the belief that many Arab countries now respected Britain more since the war.

What planet does Miliband actually reside upon?

Brown Appears Before Chilcot

Gordon Brown is currently appearing before the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war.

Brown says that the war was right, but that he regrets he wasn't able to persuade the Americans to be more organised wrt the post invasion construction.

Spaced Out

Andrew Rawnsley's book, "The End of The Party", is published today. In it he claims that Tony Blair was so tormented by the failure in Iraq that he told Gordon Brown and John Prescott that he would resign in 2004.

The book alleges that he "spaced out" several times during Parliamentary appearances, and often woke up sweating in the night.

Blair was talked out of resigning by his wife and Lord Mandelson.

AWB To Settle Class Action

AWB Ltd, the Australian wheat exporter that paid kickbacks to Saddam Hussein, has agreed to pay $35M to settle the class action against it brought by shareholders in Australia.

Three class actions against the company in the USA have been dismissed.

Ballot To See Brown

Those who want to watch Gordon Brown's appearance before the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war will have to enter a ballot.

He will appear before the inquiry in early March.

Defined By Iraq

Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former spin doctor, had a minor "emotional" moment on the Andrew Marr show yesterday when questioned about Iraq.

Campbell needed some moments pause in order to compose himself.

In his view Blair is "a totally honourable man".

Later Cambpell complained to Sky News about having to talk about Iraq:

"I did get quite upset with Andrew [Marr] this morning. I feel sometimes we are treated in this media bubble... like somehow you are devoid of humanity – you don't really have feelings, you don't really care about things.

I know how much I care about it, I know how much Tony Blair cares about it."

What did he expect?

Campbell's and Blair's lives will be forever defined by Iraq, nothing they ever do in the future will ever free them from that millstone around their necks.

Smeargate

Sir Christopher Meyer, Britain's former ambassador in the US, has given Tony Blair a very publicy drubbing in an interview with The Independent.

Sir Christopher says that Blair, and his closest advisers, have used their evidence to the Iraq inquiry to smear those criticising the decision to taken Britain to war.

He noted that "turning on opposition was the modus operandi of the Blair administration".

"You turn on dissent, you distort the argument, you claim the other person has said something they never said, and then you seek to discredit it.

It's not only me that has had some of this.

It is their modus operandi.

Smear and smokescreen."

Sir Christopher was also not impressed with Blair's obsession with invading Iran:

"Blair's strategic approach to his evidence seemed to be a kind of double or quits.

In other words, it was to say no regrets, I'd do it again, and by the way if I was Prime Minister I'd do Iran also.

It's nonsense about Iran.

The strategic beneficiary of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq has been Iran. It has enhanced the position of Iran in the region, there is no doubt about it at all.”

The fact that Blair has entrenched the idea that Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein were cut from the same cloth was extraordinary.

We've always known that Saddam Hussein had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11 and didn't like al-Qaeda."

Sir Christopher uses the polite phrase "sub-contracted" wrt Blair allowing Bush to make the decision about war, ie he is saying that Blair had in effect become a poodle of Bush.

It is a pity that all the now so very vocal critics of the war, who were in positions of power during the run up to war, did not speak up and come forward at the time.

Pants on Fire

It seems that Tony Blair's hopes of trying to put Iraq behind him, have been quashed once again.

Sir John Chilcot is to recall Blair to reappear before the inquiry into Iraq. Apparently there are some questions over Blair's testimony, when he appeared at the inquiry last week, conflicting with that given by other witnesses such as Lord Goldsmith and Lord Boyce.

Blair will go to his grave being hounded for his decision to go to war.

That is the price he will pay for believing that the war was "just" from a religious standpoint.

Cabinet Misled

Unsurprisingly Claire Short, during her appearance at the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war, pulled no punches when it came to trying to put the boot into Tony Blair.

She said that Blair "and his mates" decided war was necessary, and "everything was done on a wing and a prayer".

That seems to be a pretty fair assessment.

She didn't have many kind words for the former Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, either:

"I think he misled the cabinet. He certainly misled me, but people let it through."

Her "principled" stand is somewhat let down by the fact that she stayed in the cabinet after the war had started, relying on the promise by Blair that she would have a major role in the reconstruction of Iraq.

As we know, the reconstruction has been a bodged job (to put it mildly). However, even if it had been a beacon of success, it seems a strange stance to take to happily stand by whilst a country is being bombed to smithereens merely on the promise of being allowed to rebuild it again.