Regrets

Donald Rumsfeld in his memoir "Known and Unknown", excerpts of which have been leaked, expresses a regret that he he did not leave office at the time of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. However, he also spends much time blaming all and sundry for the Iraq debacle.

One of targets of his ire, John McCain, retorted:

"Thank God he was relieved of his duties and we put the surge in. Otherwise, we would have had a disastrous defeat in Iraq."

Ironically, Rumsfeld is due to receive the "Defender of The Constitution" Award from the right of centre Political Action Conference.

That doubtless will "amuse" those who have been on the receiving end of his authorisation to use torture.

Round Two - Blair Testifies

Tony Blair is testifying to the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war, his second appearance before Chilcot.

He has stated again that the 9/11 attacks were the root cause of the war.

The British decision to back the invasion of Iraq was based on Blair's belief that Britain had to back whatever the States wanted to do, in order to maintain the so called and over hyped "special relationship".

This if course is a lousy premise for any policy, handing over responsibility for foreign policy to another country is destined to end in disaster.

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!