Blair's Secret Letters

Sir John Chilcot, the restrained and reserved chairman of the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war, almost revealed a hint of anger the other day when he expressed "disappointment" over the fact that he has been forbidden to declassify letters between Blair and Bush written in the period up to the Iraq war.

Seemingly the official excuse, used by the state, for not allowing these documents to be published is that they are deemed to be "private correspondence". Indeed, so private that references to these letters were removed from official records.

Ironically Blair, as part of his attempt to make money from publishing, happily refers to the letters in his book "A Journey".

The Inquiry has quite clearly been "nobbled" from the outset, any conclusion it finally reaches must be regarded with great suspicion.

Goldsmith Disputes Blair

Lord Goldsmith, Tony Blair's former attorney general, has given a written response to a written question posed by the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war.

On 15 January 2003 Blair told MPs that while a second UN resolution was "preferable", there were circumstances in which it was "not necessary".

The inquiry panel asked Lord Goldsmith if he felt those words were "compatible with the advice you had given him".

Lord Goldsmith replied "no".

Thhe BBC quotes him also saying:

"I was uncomfortable about them and I believe that I discussed my concerns with [then foreign secretary] Jack Straw and my own staff."

Blair To Appear At Chilcot Inquiry

Tony Blair will reappear before the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war 21 January.

As to whether this actually achieves anything tangible, apart from providing an opportunity for demonstrators to shout at Blair, remains to be seen.

Chilcot Inquiry Rigged

It appears, according to a leaked cable from Wikileaks, that the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war has been rigged from the outset by the British government.

The leaked cable reveals that the British government secretly promised to limit the scope of the Iraq war inquiry to protect US interests.

Iraq Runs Out Of Money

Despite being an oil wealthy nation, it appears that Iraq has run out of money to pay for widows' benefits, farm crops and other programs for the poor.

Ironically there have been sufficient funds to pay members of the Iraqi parliament $100K each, for meeting four times since the election in March.

Notwithstanding that largess, it seems that the $1BN social care budget for 2010 has been used up.

The question that everyone is asking is, where has that money actually gone?

Death Sentence Commuted?

President Jalal Talabani of Iraq has told France 24 television that he won't sign the death penalty sentence against Tarik Aziz, who was sentenced to death last month.

President Talabani says that he feels "compassion" for Aziz, as Aziz is both "a Christian" and over 70 years old.

Does this mean the sentence has really been commuted, or postponed until the President can be "persuaded" to change his mind or leaves office?

Agreement Unravels

It seems that the political agreement between squabbling factions in Iraq's parliament, made on Thursday, has started to unravel.

The Sunnis have staged a walkout on the pretext of the failure of parliament to actually cast a vote on the power sharing agreement.

It seems that I was wrong when I said (tongue in cheek) yesterday that the agreement was the "easy bit". Clearly there is yet to be an agreement!

Agreement Reached?

Some 250 days after the Iraq general election (a world record) it seems that an agreement may finally have been reached between the politicians as to forming a government in Iraq.

A unity government will be formed, headed by the incumbent prime minister (Nouri al-Maliki).

That's the easy bit, now all the politicians have to do is govern the country!

Bush's Claims Backfire

Former President George Bush's claims that "waterboarding" garnered valuable intelligence that saved lives have been disputed in the UK.

Lord MacDonald, former Director of Public Prosecutions, said:

"These stories about waterboarding thwarting attacks on Canary Wharf and Heathrow - I've never seen anything to substantiate these claims.

These claims are to be treated with a great deal of scepticism."

Legal experts are also of the view that, having sanctioned the interrogation technique, Bush could be arrested for breaking international law if he travels abroad.

Bush Defends Waterboarding

The Guardian quotes former President Bush as defending the technique of "waterboarding" (now banned under President Obama) terrorist suspects:

"I knew an interrogation programme this sensitive and controversial would one day become public. When it did, we would open ourselves up to criticism that America had compromised our moral values. I would have preferred that we get the information another way. But the choice between security and values was real.

Their interrogations helped break up plots to attack American diplomatic facilities abroad, Heathrow airport and Canary Wharf in London, and multiple targets in the United States."

There is much debate as to whether (morality aside) techniques such as this actually produce any real information that actually saves lives.